President Donald Trump on Friday signed the primary main federal regulation governing cryptocurrency, a enterprise that Trump’s household has begun forging sturdy ties to and has promoted lately.
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 forex referred to as stablecoins extra accessible and mainstream.
President Donald Trump indicators the “Genius Act”, which can develop regulatory framework for stablecoin cryptocurrencies and develop oversight of the trade, on the White Home in Washington, D.C., July 18, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
Over the previous couple of years, Trump, as soon as a crypto skeptic, has begun to tout himself as probably 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 trade” that the U.S. has “dominated.”
“I pledged that we’d convey again American liberty and management and make america the crypto capital of the world. And that is what we have executed underneath 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 challenge these cash, and is predicted to extend public belief within the property and rising the trade 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 unstable crypto, resembling Bitcoin or one thing else.
“Our years of diligent work in Congress to convey readability to cost 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.
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 meant to spice up the legitimacy of the cryptocurrency trade with new laws demanded by President Donald Trump, on the Capitol in Washington, July 17, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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 issues that the invoice does not cease public officers from pushing their private cash and cashing in on 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 benefit from the forex 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 kind 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 everywhere in 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, nevertheless it doesn’t present the federal authorities with the total 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, growing not solely the $TRUMP meme coin, but additionally a bitcoin mining agency and a crypto reserve.
The White Home has insisted that there are not any conflicts of curiosity within the crypto ventures, stating that Trump’s property are in a belief managed by his youngsters.
Donald Trump speaks on the Bitcoin 2024 occasion in Nashville, Tennessee, July 27, 2024.
Kevin Wurm/Reuters
It is going to take a while earlier than the general public sees adjustments outlined within the invoice. After Trump indicators the regulation, federal regulators may have six months to provide you with particular laws.
The Home additionally handed the CLARITY Act, a market construction bundle that units the foundations for property 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.
