US Senate clears GENIUS Act: What the US stablecoin regulation means for the global crypto landscape
The US Senate passed the GENIUS Act Bill on Wednesday with a vote of 68-30 in a major boost for stablecoins — reserve-backed cryptocurrencies that have received an impetus from the Donald Trump administration in America. The next stage for the GENIUS Act will be passage in the US House of Representatives, where members have readied their own version of a stablecoin regulation bill, the STABLE Act.
Challenges notwithstanding, the GENIUS Act's passage in the US Senate led to a surge in the price of crypto exchange operator Circle. According to exchange data, Circle Internet Group's share price was up 33.82 per cent at market closing on Wednesday. In pre-market activity, Circle's share price was up another 24.75 per cent to $211.87 apiece at 1:35 pm IST on Friday. US markets were closed on Thursday for the Juneteenth 2025 National Independence Day.
Stablecoins, or commodity-backed cryptocurrencies, have witnessed a surge in market capitalisation to $251.7 billion so far in 2025, marking a 22 per cent rise this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing industry data. The passage of the GENIUS ACT Bill in the US Senate is backed by multiple actions taken by the administration of US President Donald Trump — from the announcement of a strategic crypto reserve to the promotion of cryptocurrency sympathiser Paul S Atkins as chairperson of the US markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Trump's family interests in cryptocurrency are well known and were mentioned in the Senate discussions after the tabling of the GENIUS Act.
What US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on stablecoins
In the run-up to the passage of the GENIUS Act bill in the US Senate, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post on X that 'stablecoins could grow into a $3.7 trillion market by the end of the decade'.
Recent reporting projects that stablecoins could grow into a $3.7 trillion market by the end of the decade. That scenario becomes more likely with passage of the GENIUS Act.
A thriving stablecoin ecosystem will drive demand from the private sector for US Treasuries, which back…
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) June 17, 2025
In a podcast clip posted on his X page, Bessent said crypto is unlikely to pose a threat to the US dollar stating that 'stablecoins could reinforce dollar supremacy, because stablecoins can end up being one of the largest buyers of US Treasuries… T-bills.'
Elaborating on how this may work, Bessent gave the example of how 'all of a sudden if you are using a stablecoin in Nigeria backed by the USD, you don't actually have to have dollars it's on your phone, you can transact (using dollar-backed stablecoins)…'
Crypto is not a threat to the dollar. In fact, stablecoins can reinforce dollar supremacy.
Digital assets are one of the most important phenomena in the world right now, yet they have been ignored by national governments for far too long.
This administration is committed to… pic.twitter.com/vWsLgYyNW7
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) June 18, 2025
'There's a very good chance that crypto is actually one of the things that locks in dollar supremacy,' Bessent added.
GENIUS, STABLE and the race to regulate stablecoins
The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act was passed by the US Senate on Wednesday with a 68-30 vote. The bill sets guardrails for stablecoins with proposals for compliance to ensure prevention of money laundering, full backing of cryptocurrencies by reserves and monthly audits.
Last week, Bessent told Senators that the US stablecoin market could surge 8X to $2 trillion,
CNBC reported. The GENIUS Act will be tabled next in the US Representatives House which has its own version of the stablecoin regulation bill, the STABLE Act.
The Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act places oversight of stablecoins, or reserve backed cryptocurrency under the purview of the Office of the Comptroller the Currency in the US, similar to the GENIUS Act.
However, STABLE Act differs from the GENIUS Act in terms of limiting reserve backing requirements to a clutch of assets such as US Treasuries apart from restricting who can issue stablecoins, according to Jeff Reundlet, head of accounting strategy at Cryptio, provider of ledger services for cryptocurrencies.
However, the STABLE Act bill may not go far enough, according to a paper written by partners at the law firm Orrick.
While the bill aims to create a single regulatory framework for prospective issuers, and excludes payment stablecoins from federal securities laws, it may allow state regulators the power to monitor which stablecoins may be supported by exchanges of licensed intermediaries, wrote Nathaniel Reisenburg, managing associate, and Joseph Perkins and Ignacio Sandoval, partners at Orrick.
Trump's crypto interests
US President Donald Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social after the US Senate passed the GENIUS Act bill, stating it 'going to make America the UNDISPUTED Leader in Digital Assets — Nobody will do it better, it is pure GENIUS!'
'Digital Assets are the future, and our Nation is going to own it. We are talking about MASSIVE Investment, and Big Innovation,' Trump added.
In his podcast interview, Bessent reiterated the Trump administration's commitment to digital assets, while adding that 'because there are so many other things that happen around digital assets… it's one of the most important phenomenons happening around us in the world and the US just ignored it (under the Biden administration).'
Trump reversed his stance on crypto assets from his first term, and even released his own namecoin to burnish his credentials as a backer of virtual digital assets. Cryptocurrency backers also contributed generously — around $20 million —into electing what is considered a pro-crypto Congress during the 2024 cycle, CNBC reported.
Trump's crypto empire
In a recent declaration, Trump disclosed earnings of over $600 million from interests including crypto, golf clubs, and licensing deals apart from other ventures.
According to the public disclosure, the US President has earned an estimated $320 million from his $TRUMP memecoin. Trump also pulled in $400 million from the World Liberty Financial platform for cryptocurrencies which is backed by his children. The US President earned $57.35 million from the sale of digital tokens at WLF. He also reportedly held over 15 billion governance tokens in WLF.
Other crypto ventures related to Trump include exchange traded funds held via Truth Social's crypto vertical Truth.Fi, and crypto mining firm American Bitcoin, CNBC reported.
Crypto diplomacy and countering de-dollarisation
Hacker group Gonjeshke Darande, Persian for 'Predatory Sparrow', with potential links to Israel, wiped off $90 million from Iran's largest crypto exchange Nobitex, Reuters reported, citing a Telegram post by the group.
The attack was confirmed in the app by Nobitex, according to the report.
Hackers wiped the exchange clean of a range of digital coins from Bitcoin to Ethereum and Dogecoin, said Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, the newswire reported.
Last month, Trump family-linked WLF inked a pact with the Pakistan Crypto Council to boost cryptocurrency adoption in the country, days after it agreed to a ceasefire with India in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, which was launched by New Delhi to target terror camps across the border in response to a terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir which killed 26 Indian tourists.
Apart from these instances of cryptocurrencies playing a key role in diplomacy as well as hostilities, digital tokens are also being used to reinforce the US dollar's supremacy, as pointed out by Bessent above. By formalising stablecoin issuance, backed by the dollar, the US is seemingly hedging its bets in a world where key economies are switching to commodities such as gold as they intend to de-risk their holdings from USD-related volatility.
The US sanctions on Russia in the aftermath of the declaration of war on Ukraine involved the freezing of Russian foreign exchange worth $300 billion, triggering a risk-off approach among countries across the world.
In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a call for de-dollarisation, urging the BRICS grouping to promote settlements in national currencies and expand bank-to-bank cooperation.
Trump warned the BRICS against such a move which could potentially hurt the dollar. In a statement in February Trump boasted he had warned BRICS nations of desisting from de-dollarisation or face outsized tariffs.
The stablecoin route is expected to energise the dollar by promoting the use of cryptocurrency pegged to the greenback. It remains to be seen whether this will be adopted across the globe.
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