The Act to Guide and Establish National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, known as the GENIUS Act, is one step closer to becoming law in the United States after the U.S. Senate voted in favor of approving an amended version of the bill.
In a vote on Tuesday of 68-30, the majority of the U.S. Senate decided to approve the GENIUS Act approximately six weeks after Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty introduced the legislation. The complementary bill, the STABLE Act, could be considered next in the House of Representatives, where it may face additional amendment proposals.
"With this bill, the United States is one step closer to becoming the global leader in cryptocurrency," Hagerty said from the Senate floor before the vote on Tuesday, adding: "Once the GENIUS Act becomes law, businesses of all sizes and Americans across the country will be able to settle payments almost instantly instead of waiting days or even weeks."
The GENIUS Act initially failed to pass a closure vote in the Senate in May in response to Democratic opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump's connections to the cryptocurrency industry. The Trump family has a significant stake in World Liberty Financial, which issued its own stablecoin USD1 in March.
It is unclear whether legislation on stablecoins will have enough support to pass in the House of Representatives, where Republicans also have a slim majority over Democrats. Trump's AI and cryptocurrency czar, David Sacks, suggested in May that the president would support the bill passed by a Republican-controlled Congress.
If payment stablecoins were recognized under a U.S. regulatory framework, it could potentially open the floodgates for companies to issue their own tokens. Reports indicate that Apple, Google, the social media platform X, and Airbnb were exploring the matter amid the debate over the GENIUS Act, and two U.S. senators questioned whether Meta might have similar plans if the bill were to pass.
"Recent reports project that stablecoins could grow to become a $3.7 trillion market by the end of the decade," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a post on X on Tuesday. "That scenario becomes more likely with the passage of the GENIUS Act."
