The U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act this week with a bipartisan 68-30 vote.
This bill stands as the first federal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins.
The GENIUS Act places stablecoin regulation under the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which is a major departure from the House's proposed STABLE Act.
The bill faced controversy due to President Donald Trump's financial ties to the crypto space.
The GENIUS Act's passage is a major step towards modernizing payments and integrating stablecoins into the mainstream U.S. finance.
The U.S. Senate has just passed the GENIUS Act.
This bill, which is short for “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins,” stands as a major milestone for the crypto industry.
The GENIUS Act was approved by a bipartisan vote of 68-30 and creates the first-ever federal framework for stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar.
It is a win that shows both the influence of crypto in American politics and the financial sector’s push to modernize payments.
Here are most of the details to be aware of.
This new bit of legislation gives sweeping oversight powers to the Department of the Treasury.
It also offers regulated pathways for banks, fintech startups and even major retailers to issue dollar-backed stablecoins.
With the Senate’s vote now secured, the GENIUS Act is now headed towards the house, where it might face even more revisions.
However, at the time, things look good for a final approval.
GENIUS Act passes senate vote
Keep in mind that until now, stablecoin issuers have operated under a confusing patchwork of state-level rules.
The GENIUS Act is aimed at bringing order to this chaos by taking the guidelines to a national level.
Some of its requirements make it compulsory that all stablecoins must be backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars or safe assets of equal value.
Issuers must also regularly publish audited financial reports and must follow strict anti-money laundering rules.
One of the most interesting aspects of this bill is that it places stablecoin regulation mostly under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (who previously predicted the U.S. stablecoin market could break above $2 trillion soon) is now in control of an industry that is on the brink of massive growth.
Insights from the Treasury’s Scott Bessent
The Senate’s decision to centralize control with Treasury is one of the most important points of departure from the House’s version of the bill, which was called the STABLE Act.
The House bill would divide oversight among multiple regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Comptroller of the Currency.
So far, combining these competing versions of both bills will be the next major step in the legislative process.
While the GENIUS Act received bipartisan support, it did so with a lot of controversy.
Several Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill due to issues with conflicts of interest from figures like President Donald Trump, who has deep financial ties to the crypto space.
In 2024 alone, Trump reportedly earned $57 million from token sales linked to World Liberty Financial.
He also holds nearly 16 billion WLFI governance tokens, worth close to $1 billion based on private sales.
His crypto empire also includes $TRUMP tokens, a $2.5 billion Bitcoin treasury, proposed crypto ETFs from Truth Social and the Trump brand, as well as a new mining firm called American Bitcoin.
Democrats like Sen. Jeff Merkley and Sen. Elizabeth Warren pushed hard for amendments to prevent elected officials (including the president) from profiting from crypto.
Warren and corruption concerns
However, the final version of the bill only bars members of Congress and their families from doing so.
This compromise allowed the bill to move forward but did little to quiet complaints from critics who see the bill as an enabler of “crypto corruption.”
Overall, as Congress continues to push forward on this new financial frontier, how these questions will be answered will determine not just the future of digital money but the integrity of everyone concerned.
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