Payam Javan: The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a significant bill to regulate stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar to minimize volatility. This legislation, known as the GENIUS Act, had previously gained bipartisan support in the Senate and now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk, where it is expected to be signed into law. The bill aims to establish initial safeguards and consumer protections for stablecoins, requiring issuers to comply with anti-money laundering laws, adhere to sanctions, and publicly disclose their reserves on a monthly basis, often requiring them to be backed by liquid assets like U.S. dollars or short-term Treasury bills.

This move is part of a broader effort to legitimize the cryptocurrency industry, with President Trump advocating for the U.S. to become the “crypto capital of the world.” Alongside the stablecoin bill, the House also passed two other significant crypto-related bills, which will now proceed to the Senate: one to create a new market structure for cryptocurrency, defining what qualifies as a commodity or security, and another to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). While these legislative efforts mark a historic moment for the digital asset industry, some concerns have been raised by Democrats regarding the regulatory framework’s potential weaknesses and the legislation’s implications for financial stability and corporate-issued private currencies.