Latest news with #GuidingandEstablishingNationalInnovationforU.S.Stablecoins
CNBC
10 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Circle shares extend their rally after Senate passes landmark stablecoin bill
Shares of Circle continued to climb on Friday as investors cheered the Senate approval of its proposed stablecoin legislation, the GENIUS Act. The stock was up 14% in premarket trading as excitement continued to build. The bill passed the Senate on Tuesday, and shares rose 33% on Wednesday. The market was closed Thursday for the Juneteenth holiday. Circle is on pace to end the week higher by almost 50%. It has rocketed more than 500% since its initial public offering on June 5. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose values are pegged to that of another asset, usually the U.S. dollar. Traditionally used as bridge currencies for crypto traders, stablecoins today are benefiting from increased interest by banks and payment firms as the Trump administration rolls back Biden-era crypto policies. Stablecoins have attracted a groundswell of investor interest in anticipation of regulatory clarity from Congress, as they have the potential to make payments faster and cheaper. Amazon and Walmart are reportedly exploring the possibility of using or issuing their own stablecoins. Uber, Apple and Airbnb are among other big companies reported to be exploring stablecoins in recent weeks. The GENIUS (short for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins) Act seeks to establish clear regulatory guidelines for the use of stablecoins regarding issuance, reserves and compliance. The bill now heads to the house, which has its own stablecoin legislation in the works, called the STABLE Act.
Coin Geek
2 days ago
- Business
- Coin Geek
Senate approves GENIUS bill, but House uncertainty awaits
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The United States Senate has made history by approving stablecoin legislation, a first for Congress, but uncertainty awaits the bill in the House of Representatives. On June 17, the Senate voted 68-30 in favor of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, marking the first time that the upper chamber of Congress has passed a bill governing digital assets and the first time either chamber has approved legislation governing stablecoins. The House passed a digital asset market structure bill (FIT21) last year that the Senate failed to take up before Congress adjourned for the 2024 elections. Tuesday's margin of victory was identical to last week's cloture vote, with 18 Democrats voting 'aye.' The ever-expanding list of questionable crypto ventures linked to President Donald Trump and his family—including the launch of their own stablecoin (USD1) this spring—proved incapable of dissuading pro-crypto Dems from supporting the bill. GENIUS was supported by all but two Republicans. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) opposed GENIUS because it allows private corporations to issue their own stablecoins. Hawley called this 'a huge giveaway to Big Tech' and filed an amendment to limit tech firms' stablecoin activities. But he said the language was 'gutted' in the final GENIUS text, leaving only 'window dressing' where concrete restrictions were intended. GOP leadership refused to consider other amendments, disappointing those who'd been promised an open amendment process by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). Some GENIUS critics sought additional language to limit Trump's ability to profit off a financial sector over which he has direct control, while other critics wanted stricter rules governing foreign-based stablecoin issuers like Tether (USDT). Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who helped steer GENIUS to the finish line, said the bill's 'long and winding journey … would have been much easier if the Trump family wasn't so grossly involved in this emerging sector.' As for what tipped other Dems into the 'aye' camp, well, more on that at the bottom of this article. One of the prime beneficiaries of GENIUS will be the U.S.-based Circle (NASDAQ: CRCL), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, which is second only to Tether in terms of stablecoin market cap. Circle made its Nasdaq debut less than two weeks ago and the stock closed Tuesday down 1.3%, but news of GENIUS's passage produced a nearly 3% bump in after-hours trading. Tether has previously mused about launching a new U.S.-compliant stablecoin that would limit unwanted regulatory scrutiny on USDT, including subjecting its reserves to a third-party audit. While Circle execs tweeted effusive praise for the Senate on Tuesday, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has so far tweeted only the word 'GENIUS' alongside some America-themed emojis and a brain. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a celebratory tweet ahead of the GENIUS vote, claiming that the bill's success could boost the overall stablecoin market to $3.7 trillion by the end of the decade. That's nearly twice the $2 trillion market that Bessent predicted during a Senate hearing last week. Either figure would be a significant boost to the current cap of just $261.5 billion. House v Senate for all the crypto marbles All eyes now turn to the House of Representatives, where GENIUS may get a slightly cooler reception than Senate Republicans might prefer. Politico reported that GOP leadership in both the House and Senate are of two minds when it comes to how best to proceed. The House reportedly favors combining stablecoin legislation with a comprehensive market structure bill like the House's Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which has already cleared multiple markup sessions. The Senate has yet to introduce its own market structure bill and leadership would prefer getting a conference committee to quickly negotiate the differences between GENIUS and the House's STABLE Act, which met with approval from the Financial Services Committee (FSC) but has yet to hit the House floor. The Senate reportedly wants a quick 'win' on stablecoins to distract from its squabbles with the House over Trump's 'big, beautiful' spending bill. House crypto boosters like Warren Davidson (R-OH) told Politico the Senate 'clearly doesn't… have the consensus built to deal with market structure.' Davidson favors bundling stablecoins, market structure and a ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDC) into a single bill that the House can send the Senate. As FSC Chair French Hill (R-AR) told Fox Business last week: 'Both these bills are very, very important to the goal of a digital asset for the future of the U.S. You can't just pass a stablecoin bill and have any place to effectively use it. You need the CLARITY Act to give us that market framework.' Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the driving force behind GENIUS, warned that if his stablecoin bill was modified by the House to include market structure language (and whatever else), 'it would have to come back to the Senate for a lot of work.' The House breaks for the summer in the last week of July, while the Senate's last day is August 1. That makes a tight timeline for both chambers to coalesce around a strategy, harmonize bill language, and get something to the president's desk for signing by Labor Day. Back to the top ↑ CFTC chairman or lighthouse keeper? CLARITY would hand the bulk of crypto oversight to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), with a far smaller role for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But questions remain as to whether the chronically understaffed and underfunded CFTC is up to the task. Brian Quintenz, Trump's nominee to lead the CFTC, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate, but once he is, he'll find only half the usual number of commissioners to help oversee all things crypto (and the two that remain aren't sticking around). That one-man-show could continue should the president not bother to fill those four empty commissioner seats, prioritizing 'efficiency' over consensus building. Trump has long disdained the norms of seeking Congressional approval of key agency appointments, often using the 'acting' designation to sidestep longstanding advise & consent protocols, appointing new 'acting' execs when the original appointee's grace period expires. A new Bloomberg article notes that there's nothing that legally compels Trump to fill the empty chairs anytime soon, which would empower Quintenz to make unilateral decisions on everything from regulatory matters to signing CFTC office leases, as well as dealing with letters from aggrieved stakeholders. Back to the top ↑ Gemini seeks, er, something from CFTC Speaking of angry missives, the CFTC just received a nasty letter from attorneys representing brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and their Gemini exchange. The letter takes issues with the conduct of lawyers representing the agency's Division of Enforcement (DOE) for bringing 'dubious false statements charges' against Gemini. By way of background, in January, Gemini reached a $5 million settlement with the CFTC regarding the 2022 civil complaint accusing Gemini of 'making false or misleading statements of material facts' regarding a BTC-based exchange-traded product (ETP). The complaint accused two unspecified individuals—who may or may not have been the Winklevii—of loaning 'thousands' of BTC at artificially low rates to market-makers to ensure the ETP's trading volume met CFTC standards. Gemini's letter accused DOE staff of having 'selectively and unfairly weaponized the Commodity Exchange Act' against the company. Gemini claims the DOE's original sin was taking seriously 'a false whistleblower report' filed by its former chief operating officer Benjamin Small. Gemini claims Small was fired for hiding the existence of 'a multi-million dollar rebate fraud perpetrated by two Gemini Trust customers.' Following his dismissal, Small allegedly vowed to 'destroy' Gemini and filed the report that Gemini claims convinced the CFTC to launch a probe into the exchange's operations in 2018. The company's letter to CFTC Inspector General Christopher Skinner doesn't ask the regulator to do much, except to act on reforms proposed last month by soon-to-be-ex-commissioner Caroline Pham (who is serving as acting chairman while Quintenz warms the bench). Other than that, the letter is simply a list of grievances detailing how unfairly Gemini feels it was treated at the CFTC's hands. It's possible that Gemini might be seeking to claw back some or all of that $5 million settlement, taking advantage of the 180° attitude shift towards digital assets by federal agencies since Trump took his oath of office in January. If that's the case, Gemini could be taking their cue from Ripple Labs, which last August was ordered to pay the SEC $125 million for violating securities laws. Since Trump's election, Ripple has teamed up with the SEC's new management to press the judge to return $75 million of that sum to Ripple. (The SEC dropped its civil complaint against Gemini in February.) While the climate for crypto operators has indeed undergone a sea change at the federal level, it's perhaps notable that Gemini has yet to file a similar complaint with the New York Attorney General's office, which in June 2024 fined Gemini $50 million for defrauding investors of the Gemini Earn program. But New York Attorney General (NYAG) Letitia James isn't Trump's biggest fan, and she doesn't appear to feel any need to apologize to crypto operators who fail to color within the lines. Back to the top ↑ Fearing crypto cash, Dems go with the flow On June 16, The Lever reported on a private group chat on the encrypted Signal messaging platform featuring Democratic Party operatives and crypto lobbyists. The chats expose the naked self-interest behind some Dems' positions on crypto legislation like GENIUS, as many Dems see Trump's self-interested dealings all too clearly but calculate that publicly opposing the well-funded crypto sector will kill their electability. The 'Dem Crypto Policy Roundtable' chat group reportedly includes Capitol Hill staff, Democratic National Committee members, lobbyists, venture capitalists (including Paradigm and Electric Capital reps), and lawyers for major crypto firms. The chats reportedly discussed various crypto bills, including GENIUS and CLARITY. The Crypto Council for Innovation's Sheila Warren is quoted saying 'Trump's corruption is manifesting dramatically in crypto,' and advising 'ordinary' Dems running in the 2026 midterm elections to 'stay away from crypto apart from being vaguely supportive.' Dems on committees were given the option to 'flag the corruption and be a pro-crypto anti-corruption candidate.' Crypto lawyer Jason Gottlieb suggested it was pointless for Dem senators to performatively file anti-corruption amendments to GENIUS, saying such efforts 'will be doa [dead on arrival].' Gottlieb reasoned that '[n]obody is going to get primaried because they voted for GENIUS.' Gottlieb said if Dems want to win the next election they 'can not [sic] afford to alienate a very vocal and wealthy group of donors.' Electric Capital managing partner Avichal Garg put a finer point on it, saying if Dems didn't vote for GENIUS 'they will get 0 dollars going forward. It would be political suicide for them not to support it.' The crypto sector is clearly adopting a stick-and-carrot approach, as Bloomberg reported Tuesday on the number of Dem-adjacent individuals and companies being hired to advance crypto's cause. This includes Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) adding Kamala Harris campaign advisor David Plouffe to its Global Advisory Council last week, Tether hiring a lobbying firm run by former staffers to President Joe Biden, and venture capital giants Andreessen Horowitz hiring former Dem staffer Michael Reed as its new government affairs partner. Bloomberg quoted NYU adjunct professor Austin Campbell (also CEO of digital payment platform WSPN) saying the hires were a reflection of crypto's understanding that the Dems might not always be in the minority. 'If you made this industry explicitly partisan, boy do you have a problem.' Incidentally, Campbell was also in the Signal group chat, where he said opposing GENIUS would make voters see Dems as 'pro-bank.' Campbell also warned that calling out Trump's crypto corruption only makes him 'stronger, not weaker.' Faced with America's first Borg president, it seems resistance really is futile . Back to the top ↑ Watch: Breaking down solutions to blockchain regulation hurdles title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Senate expected to pass crypto bill without addressing Trump's investments
Advertisement Still, most Democrats oppose the bill. They have raised concerns that the measure does little to address President Donald Trump's personal financial interests in the crypto space. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'We weren't able to include certainly everything we would have wanted, but it was a good bipartisan effort,' said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., on Monday. She added, 'This is an unregulated area that will now be regulated.' Known as the GENIUS Act, the bill would establish guardrails and consumer protections for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar. The acronym stands for 'Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins.' It's expected to pass Tuesday, since it only requires a simple majority vote — and it already cleared its biggest procedural hurdle last week in a 68-30 vote. But the bill has faced more resistance than initially expected. Advertisement There is a provision in the bill that bans members of Congress and their families from profiting off stablecoins. But that prohibition does not extend to the president and his family, even as Trump builds a crypto empire from the White House. Trump hosted a private dinner last month at his golf club with top investors in a Trump-branded meme coin. His family holds a large stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that provides yet another avenue where investors are buying in and enriching the president's relatives. World Liberty has launched its own stablecoin, USD1. The administration is broadly supportive of crypto's growth and its integration into the economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week said the legislation could help push the U.S. stablecoin market beyond $2 trillion by the end of 2028. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase — the nation's largest crypto exchange and a major advocate for the bill — has met with Trump and praised his early moves on crypto. This past weekend, Coinbase was among the more prominent brands that sponsored a parade in Washington commemorating the Army's 250th anniversary — an event that coincided with Trump's 79th birthday. But the crypto industry emphasizes that they view the legislative effort as bipartisan, pointing to champions on each side of the aisle. 'The GENIUS Act will be the most significant digital assets legislation ever to pass the U.S. Senate,' Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., said ahead of a key vote last week. 'It's the product of months of bipartisan work.' The bill did hit one rough patch in early May, when a bloc of Senate Democrats who had previously supported the bill reversed course and voted to block it from advancing. That prompted new negotiations involving Senate Republicans, Democrats and the White House, which ultimately produced the compromise version expected to win passage Tuesday. Advertisement 'There were many, many changes that were made. And ultimately, it's a much better deal because we were all at the table,' Alsobrooks said. Still, the bill leaves unresolved concerns over presidential conflicts of interest — an issue that remains a source of tension within the Democratic caucus. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been among the most outspoken as the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, warning that the bill creates a 'super highway' for Trump corruption. She has also warned that the bill would allow major technology companies, such as Amazon and Meta, to launch their own stablecoins. If the stablecoin legislation passes the Senate on Tuesday, it still faces several hurdles before reaching the president's desk. It must clear the narrowly held Republican majority in the House, where lawmakers may try to attach a broader market structure bill — sweeping legislation that could make passage through the Senate more difficult. Trump has said he wants stablecoin legislation on his desk before Congress breaks for its August recess, now just under 50 days away.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Positive U.S. Regulatory Environment More Conducive for Crypto Corporate Activity: JPMorgan
Expectations of a more benign regulatory environment in the U.S. is leading to an increase in the number of crypto companies looking to go public and an uplift in venture capital (VC) funding, investment bank JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Wednesday. The GENIUS Act's progress in the Senate has become a "key factor in anticipating a clearer and more supportive regulatory environment," analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote. "The anticipation of such a U.S. regulatory environment is conducive to crypto corporate activity such as IPOs and VC funding," the authors wrote. The Senate's Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act mandates federal regulation for stablecoins with a market cap of over $10 billion with the potential for state regulation if it aligns with federal rules. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to another asset, such as the U.S. dollar or gold. They play a major role in cryptocurrency markets and are also used to transfer money internationally. The bank noted that the number of crypto IPOs so far this year matches the pace of offerings seen in the bull market of 2021. Press reports suggest that more crypto companies, including Ripple, Kraken, Consenys and CoinDesk's owner Bullish are getting ready to IPO this year, the report said. Venture capital funding is also on the rise, and has exceeded levels seen in 2023/24, on an annualized basis, the bank said. IPOs give crypto investors a way to diversify their digital asset exposure beyond just bitcoin BTC and ether ETH, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. It means they can take advantage of opportunities in areas such as blockchain infrastructure, payments and settlement, custody and tokenization, the report added.
CNBC
13-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
The Senate just advanced a bill to regulate stablecoins—what the GENIUS Act could mean for crypto and other investors
The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to advance the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, known as the GENIUS Act, setting it up for a final floor vote in the coming days. The legislation aims to regulate the roughly $238 billion stablecoin market, per CoinDesk data, creating a clearer framework for banks, companies and other entities to issue the digital currencies. The bill has bipartisan support, as well as criticism from both parties, making its fate in the Senate uncertain. Here's what to know about what's included in the bill and how it could impact investors — even those who don't hold crypto. A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that is pegged to another asset, typically the U.S. dollar, which makes it less volatile than other cryptocurrencies tend to be. The currency is used in a number of ways, including for payments and futures trading. Since they're also more predictable than regular crypto tokens, traders also use stablecoins "to sit out times of volatility or market downturns," says Nic Puckrin, a crypto analyst, investor and founder of The Coin Bureau. "Stablecoins are also being used increasingly in emerging markets, like Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, to hedge against monetary instability, as well as for cheap cross-border payments," he adds. "The use cases are very broad, and new ones are emerging all the time." Ultimately, the GENIUS Act could make stablecoins more mainstream by bolstering trust in the currency and encouraging more competition in the market, Puckrin says. "Right now, [the stablecoin market] is, for all intents and purposes, a duopoly. The market is nearly entirely dominated by Circle's USDC and Tether's USDT," Puckrin says. Since the bill will create a clear pathway for banks and other entities to begin issuing stablecoins, "we'll likely see a flood of them rush into the market at the start," he says. Big banks are gearing up to create their own coins. And while they may not all be successful, Puckrin says they will give consumers more options to find a stablecoin and issuer that works best for their needs. Proponents say it will help safeguard investors and regulate the stablecoin market by ensuring issuers have the reserves needed to give stablecoins their value. "If we fail to act now, not only will these benefits slip away — we will also fall behind in global competitiveness," Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), who introduced the bill, said in the Senate on Wednesday. "Without a regulatory framework, stablecoin innovation will proliferate overseas — not in America!" Puckrin agrees stablecoin regulation could be a boon for the U.S. and its position in the global economy. "Congress has also realized that instead of threatening the U.S. dollar, stablecoins can help cement its global dominance, because 99% of stablecoins are pegged to USD," he says. "With the dollar struggling to maintain its role in the global economy, the GENIUS Act could just be the thing that saves it." Some supporters acknowledge the bill isn't perfect, but think it's better than not having regulation on stablecoins at all. "The general outlook is that [the bill] will do better than anything that is currently happening," says Bezalel Eithan Raviv, CEO of blockchain security firm Lionsgate. "It's a step in the right direction for everyone. There are ways to make it better. There are ways to make everything better. But this is the first one. Let's give it a try, and it will ripple in many ways." Critics of the GENIUS Act argue it compromises crypto's decentralization and could enable corruption, such as officials favoring specific stablecoins under new regulations. "We need guardrails that ensure that government officials aren't openly asking people to buy their coins in order to increase their personal profit or their family's profit," Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore), who opposed the current version of the bill, said during Wednesday's session. "Where are those guardrails in this bill? They're completely, totally absent." Some critics also say the bill gives too many entities the ability to create new stablecoins which could make enforcement of the regulation standards more difficult. "As long as issuers are clearly following the rules and regulations, more competition in the stablecoin landscape is both welcome and necessary," Puckrin says. During the GENIUS Act's passage through the House, some members sought to attach amendments, including proposals from the Credit Card Competition Act. The latter, introduced in 2023 but previously stalled, aimed to boost credit card payment competition by requiring issuers to allow more than two networks (beyond mainly Visa and Mastercard) to process transactions. Some legislators saw enough similarities between the credit card and stablecoin marketplaces to justify adding the CCCA to the GENIUS Act, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) nixed that plan, fearing the CCCA's inclusion could cost votes in favor of the larger bill. Still, the GENIUS act could impact retailers outside of crypto, Puckrin says. "We'll likely see stablecoins increasingly adopted as a digital alternative to the U.S. dollar, so banks, fintechs and merchants will be forced to offer stablecoin payment options," he says. "Eventually, payment networks like Visa and Mastercard will have to do so as well, which will lead to lower fees. The CCCA proposals are an inevitable evolution of the GENIUS Act. It will just take a little longer if it isn't written into law."
