#StablecoinLaw Key takeaways from U.S. stablecoin law: What it means for global finance:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, into law, marking the country's first major federal law governing cryptocurrencies.

Passed by a bipartisan majority in Congress, the legislation gave an immediate boost to market sentiment: the total value of cryptoassets surged past 4 trillion U.S. dollars, according to CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency data aggregator website.

"This could be perhaps the greatest revolution in financial technology since the birth of the Internet itself," said Trump.

WHAT ARE STABLECOINS?

Unlike volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, stablecoins are designed to hold a steady value by being pegged one-to-one to a stable asset, usually to the U.S. dollar. For every stablecoin in circulation, the issuing company is expected to hold equivalent reserves, such as cash or short-term Treasury bonds.

In a Brookings Institution report, stablecoins currently in circulation have a collective market capitalization of over 250 billion dollars with approximately 99 percent pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Among major stablecoin issuers are Tether (USDT) with a market cap of nearly 161 billion dollars, and Circle (USDC) with about 65 billion dollars, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

With the GENIUS Act passed, banks, nonbanks and credit unions could dive into the market by issuing their own stablecoins, local media reported.

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said on the company's earnings call Tuesday that the bank is considering issuing its own form of the cryptocurrency.

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty said stablecoins could allow businesses and consumers to settle payments "nearly instantaneously," as opposed to the current system, which can take weeks. However, stablecoins come with mounting concerns. Among the biggest are the depegging risks. If reserve assets lose value or liquidity, stablecoins may break their peg. $SOL