Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )
Author: Azuma ( @azuma_eth )
In the early morning of July 19th, Beijing time, US President Trump officially signed the highly anticipated GENIUS Act in the East Room of the White House. This not only means that this bill, which will have a profound impact on the development of the stablecoin industry, has gone through all legislative procedures and officially become a law to be implemented; it also means that for the first time in modern history, a US president has signed a law focusing on cryptocurrency, opening a new chapter in the industry.
To commemorate this historic moment, the White House invited executives from several cryptocurrency industry companies including Robinhood, Tether, Gemini, Multicoin, etc. to witness the signing of the GENIUS Act.
A week full of twists and turns in crypto
Earlier this week, “Crypto Week” kicked off on Capitol Hill, with the House of Representatives set to deliberate on three important Republican-led cryptocurrency bills – the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and the Anti-CBDC Act.
On the eve of the review, Trump posted a message on Truth Social to build momentum for the three bills, and expressed his willingness to work with the House of Representatives and the Senate to push for the passage of more relevant legislation. However, the review process was not as smooth as everyone expected.
The review process officially began in the early morning of July 16, Beijing time, but the first procedural vote (not the final vote, but it must be passed before the vote can continue) ended in a failure of 196-223 . The main reason for the failure was that 12 conservative Republican congressmen chose no in the vote. Some of the congressmen who voted against insisted that the three bills should be bundled into one bill and promoted together.
Subsequently, although Trump claimed that he had met with the majority of lawmakers who voted against the bill in order to persuade them to change their votes in the next procedural vote, the review process was still deadlocked for a time. Eleanor Terrett, a reporter who has been following the developments of various cryptocurrency policies for a long time, even used phrases such as chaos, still need to wait, and I dont know what will happen to describe the situation at the time.
Finally, after 48 hours of internal negotiations, the review process was restarted. Although there was a great deal of uncertainty in the process (the Anti-CBDC Bill even had a record-breaking marathon vote of nearly 10 hours), the three major bills were finally passed in the early morning of July 18.
Among them, the core GENIUS Act was passed in the House of Representatives with 308 votes in favor and 122 votes against , and a rare bipartisan consensus appeared in the vote - more than 100 Democrats turned to support this bill initiated by the Senate, including House Minority Leader and New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.
In addition, another highly anticipated bill, the CLARITY Act, was passed simultaneously by 294 to 134 votes , with 78 Democratic House members voting in favor of the market structure bill that aims to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets. Jeffries voted against it, but key figures such as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose to support it.
The Anti-CBDC Act was narrowly passed by a vote of 219 to 210 , with only two Democrats supporting the proposal to ban the Federal Reserve from issuing digital currency.
Since the GENIUS Act has already passed the Senate, it will be submitted directly to the White House after the House of Representatives votes to pass it. As mentioned earlier, Trump signed the bill the next day without waiting for even a day. The other two bills will be transferred to the Senate for the next round of review.
The GENIUS Act has been signed. What does it mean for the industry?
The market has been warming up and building momentum for the GENIUS Act for a long time, but many people may not realize what it means to the market.
The full name of the GENIUS Act is the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS Act). The bill was jointly proposed by US Senators Bill Hagerty, Tim Scott, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Cynthia Lummis on February 4 this year. It aims to establish a legal framework for the legal use of stablecoin payments in the United States.
The core provisions of the Act are as follows.
Definition of payment stablecoin : A digital asset anchored to a fixed currency value, fully backed by the U.S. dollar or other highly liquid assets at a 1:1 ratio, and specifically used for payment settlement scenarios.
Dual licensing regulation : federal regulation, issuers with a market value of more than US$10 billion must be subject to federal regulation; state regulation, small issuers can choose state registration (must meet federal equivalent standards).
100% reserve requirement : Reserve assets are limited to cash, short-term US Treasury bonds or central bank deposits, and must be isolated from operating funds. Proof of sufficient reserves must be submitted monthly to ensure that users can redeem at face value.
Transparency and mandatory disclosure : Reserve fund composition and redemption policy are disclosed regularly and audited for compliance by a registered accounting firm.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance : Bringing issuers under the Bank Secrecy Act and meeting financial institution-level AML obligations.
Priority protection for users : When the issuer goes bankrupt, the claims of stablecoin holders take precedence over other claimants.
Clear regulatory authority : It is clearly stipulated that payment stablecoins do not fall into the category of securities, commodities or investment companies, thus clearly defining the regulatory boundaries.
From the perspective of industry impact, the GENIUS Act, as the first federal-level stablecoin bill, has been generally regarded by the industry as a key for stablecoins to move out of the wild growth stage, officially enter the compliance scope, and is expected to move towards broader markets such as payments.
From a symbolic point of view, the GENIUS Act, as the first cryptocurrency bill signed by the US President, will also become a major milestone in the compliance and popularization of cryptocurrency, and is the most powerful endorsement of the entire industry.
The greatest revolution in financial technology since the birth of the Internet
With the signing of the GENIUS Act this morning, the White House spoke highly of the bill in an official announcement, saying it will pave the way for the United States to lead the global digital currency revolution.
Trump also said to several industry representatives at the signing site: As I promised last year, the GENIUS Act creates a clear and simple regulatory framework for dollar-backed stablecoins, which can unleash the huge potential of stablecoins. This may be the greatest revolution in financial technology since the birth of the Internet. Many people are saying so.
Another sentence from Trump may be more likely to impress every cryptocurrency practitioner - I want to say that the entire cryptocurrency community has been ridiculed, ignored, and denied for many years. Just a year and a half ago, you were considered insignificant, but this signing will be a huge recognition.
Times are changing, and we are witnessing the grayness of the industry gradually fading away. The road ahead will always be brighter.
