Trump Urges ‘Lightning-Fast’ Passage of Ground-Breaking Stablecoin Law
20 Jun 2025
A rare display of bipartisan momentum
Washington may be famous for gridlock, yet the Senate’s 68-30 approval of the Generating Economic Niches in US-backed Innovation & Utility for Stablecoins Act—better known as the GENIUS Act—shows what happens when money and technology collide. Eighteen Democrats joined almost every Republican to push the bill over the line on Tuesday evening, marking the first time a comprehensive piece of digital-asset legislation has cleared either chamber of Congress.
Within hours, President Donald J. Trump logged on to Truth Social and delivered a characteristically bullish rallying cry. The message was simple: get the bill to my desk, keep it “clean,” and do it yesterday.
“Digital assets are the future, and our nation is going to own it,” the president declared, warning lawmakers against “add-ons” or procedural detours that could slow the momentum.
Why the GENIUS Act matters
At its core, the measure sets out a national framework for payment stablecoins—dollar-pegged tokens that promise instant settlements without the volatility of Bitcoin or Ether. Up until now, state regulators such as New York’s Department of Financial Services and Wyoming’s Division of Banking have written the rule-book piecemeal. That patchwork has frustrated major banks, kept traditional asset managers on the sidelines, and fuelled an offshore migration of liquidity.
The GENIUS Act aims to fix that by:
Requiring fully backed reserves in cash or Treasury bills.
Placing issuers under Federal Reserve supervision while granting limited exemptions for smaller fintech start-ups.
Mandating real-time attestations so investors can check, block-by-block, that every token in circulation has a matching dollar in the vault.
Introducing consumer redemptions on demand, at par, within 24 hours.
Supporters argue the clarity could unlock a wave of institutional capital, lower cross-border remittance fees, and give Washington a seat at the table as the EU’s MiCA rules and Asia’s rapidly evolving frameworks come online.
But is one bill enough?
On the other side of the Capitol, the House Financial Services Committee has its own stablecoin proposal—the STABLE Act—as well as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which divides broader crypto oversight between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Some industry lobbyists want the Senate bill stapled to that market-structure package before final passage to prevent “regulatory drift.”
Trump’s team, however, is signalling a “win now, refine later” mindset. A senior White House aide, speaking on background, told CryptoExchangeFees.com that coupling the two measures could create jurisdictional turf wars that bog everything down until after the August recess.
Trump’s personal stake raises eyebrows
The administration’s full-court press comes as the First Family’s own crypto ventures draw scrutiny. Last autumn, the president and his sons quietly seeded World Liberty Financial (WLF), which has since rolled out Liberty USD, a dollar-backed stablecoin used last month to settle a headline-grabbing $2 billion trade between an Abu Dhabi investment vehicle and Binance.
Critics claim the overlap creates a conflict of interest. Supporters counter that a sitting president with skin in the game only underscores Washington’s new-found commitment to digital assets. Either way, the optics guarantee a lively confirmation hearing when the Federal Reserve begins licensing issuers under the new regime.
The political calculus
Why the urgency? In addition to the looming recess, mid-summer polls hint that swing-state voters—particularly younger retail investors squeezed by inflation—favour candidates who embrace crypto innovation. A Morning Consult survey last month found that 61 percent of independents want “clear rules of the road” for stablecoins, compared with 24 percent who prefer a wait-and-see approach.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is reportedly whipping votes for a floor debate as early as next week. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) must decide whether to demand amendments—risking the bill’s demise—or join moderates who see fintech jobs as a political win.
What the market thinks
Traders welcomed Tuesday’s vote with a modest risk-on bounce: Tether’s USDT briefly narrowed its bid-ask spread on U.S. exchanges to 2 basis points, while Circle’s USDC supply ticked higher for the first time in three weeks. On-chain data from Glassnode showed a 9 percent uptick in newly created stablecoin wallets within 12 hours of the Senate’s decision—small numbers in absolute terms, but a telling sign of pent-up demand for regulatory certainty.
Next stops on the regulatory roadmap
Even if the GENIUS Act reaches the Oval Office intact, lobbyists will not be closing their D.C. war rooms. Lawmakers still need to hammer out:
Broker-dealer definitions for decentralised exchanges.
Tax treatment of staking rewards and liquidity-provider fees.
Custody standards for banks that want to hold private keys on behalf of corporate treasurers.
An ESG rubric for proof-of-work mining, a sticking point for several Senate Democrats who voted “yes” on stablecoins but remain sceptical of Bitcoin’s energy footprint.
Bottom line
Capitol Hill has flirted with crypto regulation for years; Tuesday’s vote may finally put some substance behind the flirtation. Whether the GENIUS Act becomes law in its current form or gets bundled with broader reforms, one truth is becoming harder to ignore: the United States either sets the rules for digital money now, or plays by someone else’s later.
President Trump, never shy about branding, wants to stamp “Made in America” on that future—and he wants Congress to do it lightning fast.