Bitcoin rises, NYSE battles for Trump ETF, and crypto may be coming to mortgage next

• The price of bitcoin rose again in trading on Wednesday, touching an intraday high above $108,000.
• Mideast tensions declined and markets stayed in rally mode; Fed Chair Jerome Powell talked about the crypto industry's maturity, specifically stablecoin, and an influential backer of crypto in the Senate spoke with CNBC about new legislation.
• A top federal housing regulator said in a social post on Monday that bitcoin accounts may factor in mortgage qualifications in the future.

The price of bitcoin rose again on Wednesday, reaching above $108,000 at an intraday high, as investors looked past the recent tensions in the Middle East and the stock market hovered near an all-time record.

But the trading in cryptocurrencies was uneven, with ether and solana both slipping modestly in afternoon trading.

Washington, D.C., figured in a major way in the latest crypto headlines.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell spoke about crypto in his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday morning, saying the stablecoin industry has matured significantly over the past few years, and increasingly become part of the mainstream financial landscape.

The director of Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte — whose family founded Pulte Group, one of the nation's largest homebuilders — may have also given bitcoin a boost after ordering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to study the usage of cryptocurrency holdings for those looking to qualify for mortgages.

After the Senate unveiled a bill Tuesday to write the “crypto rules of the road,” Senator Cynthia Lummis, who heads the Senate Banking subcommittee on digital assets, spoke with CNBC's “Squawk Box” on Wednesday to break down the details of new legislation. She said the U.S. should be a leader in crypto rulemaking, and noted that rules of the road for digital assets already exist in some markets overseas.

Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange went to bat for the planned crypto ETF from President Trump's Truth Social, asking for a rule change to allow the bitcoin and ethereum ETF to launch. If approved by the SEC within the next 90 days, it would further Trump's push into digital assets.

Finally, Crypto World spoke with Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset, which raised $135 million in a fundraising announced on Tuesday, a round backed by major names in banking and finance, including Goldman Sachs and Citadel Securities. He explained how the money will be used and what the investment highlights.