President Donald Trump on Friday signed the primary main federal legislation governing cryptocurrency, a enterprise that Trump’s household has begun forging robust ties to and has promoted in recent times.
The Home of Representatives handed the GENIUS Act Thursday with bipartisan help, a month after it cleared the Senate. The invoice, a key precedence for the president, outlines particular laws aimed toward making a selected type of digital foreign money referred to as stablecoins extra accessible and mainstream.
Home Monetary Companies Chairman French Hill is joined by, from left, Rep. Dusty Johnson, Rep. Bryan Steil, Home Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Home Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson as they converse to reporters after the Home handed three payments supposed to spice up the legitimacy of the cryptocurrency business with new laws demanded by President Donald Trump, on the Capitol in Washington, July 17, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Over the previous couple of years, Trump, as soon as a crypto skeptic, has begun to tout himself as essentially the most crypto-friendly commander in chief in U.S. historical past, and pushed for Congress to take up the problem on the marketing campaign path. The president, who launched his own crypto meme coin earlier this 12 months, recently said he’s a “fan of crypto” and referred to as it a “very highly effective business” that the U.S. has “dominated.”
“I pledged that we might deliver again American liberty and management and make america the crypto capital of the world. And that is what we have accomplished below the Trump administration,” he mentioned on the signing.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrency which have their worth tied to a steady asset just like the U.S. greenback. The GENIUS Act makes it simpler for banks and different entities to problem these cash, and is anticipated to extend public belief within the belongings and rising the business total.
Historically, consumers use their private financial institution accounts to purchase a stablecoin, after which use the stablecoin to commerce for another type of extra risky crypto, akin to Bitcoin or one thing else.
“Our years of diligent work in Congress to deliver readability to fee stablecoins have reached a historic turning level. President Trump referred to as on Congress to ship him landmark laws to his desk by August, and we have now delivered,” Republican Rep. French Hill, the chairman of the Home’s Monetary Companies Committee, mentioned in a press release.
The invoice handed following a stalemate amongst Home Republicans after it stalled for nine hours earlier than it made it to a debate.
Though many Democrats, together with Home leaders, backed the invoice, some expressed considerations that the invoice does not cease public officers from pushing their private cash and benefiting from nameless transactions.
Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, the rating member of the Home Monetary Companies Committee, slammed the invoice, pointing to a agency with ties to the Trump household that not too long ago launched its personal stablecoin and may gain advantage from the foreign money being extra broadly used.
An organization related to the Trump household owns a 60% stake in World Liberty Monetary, a crypto enterprise, which launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. greenback, this spring.
President Donald Trump speaks at an occasion for the signing of the GENIUS Act, a invoice that regulates stablecoins, a sort of cryptocurrency, within the East Room of the White Home, Friday, July 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Alex Brandon/AP
Trump’s picture is all around the agency’s web site, which as soon as dubbed him “chief crypto advocate” and has since modified his title to “co-founder emeritus.”
“The Unstable Act creates the looks of a federal framework for stablecoins, however it doesn’t present the federal authorities with the complete authority it wants,” Waters mentioned Thursday earlier than the vote.
World Liberty Monetary mentioned in a earlier assertion to ABC Information that it’s “a non-public firm with no ties to the U.S. authorities.”
Trump and his family have fully immersed themselves in the cryptocurrency marketplace, creating not solely the $TRUMP meme coin, but in addition a bitcoin mining agency and a crypto reserve.
The White Home has insisted that there aren’t any conflicts of curiosity within the crypto ventures, stating that Trump’s belongings are in a belief managed by his kids.
Donald Trump speaks on the Bitcoin 2024 occasion in Nashville, Tennessee, July 27, 2024.
Kevin Wurm/Reuters
It’s going to take a while earlier than the general public sees modifications outlined within the invoice. After Trump indicators the legislation, federal regulators can have six months to give you particular laws.
The Home additionally handed the CLARITY Act, a market construction bundle that units the principles for belongings which might be overseen by the Securities and Alternate Fee or commodities which might be regulated by the Commodities Futures Buying and selling Fee. That measure now heads to the Senate.
