After a long wait for regulatory clarity in the cryptocurrency industry, US stablecoin legislation has reached a critical turning point. On March 18, Bo Hines, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets under the Trump administration, revealed at the Digital Asset Summit in New York that the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins), aimed at regulating the stablecoin market, has gained bipartisan support in the Senate Banking Committee and could be sent to the president’s desk for signing within the “next two months.” This progress not only marks a substantive step forward in US crypto regulation but also highlights Washington’s strategic intent to consolidate the US dollar’s global dominance through stablecoins.
Bipartisan Consensus Accelerates Legislation
Hines emphasized repeatedly in his speech that stablecoin legislation has become a “rare bipartisan issue” in the current Congress. The Senate Banking Committee passed the GENIUS Act last week with “strong bipartisan support.” The bill mandates that all stablecoin issuers comply with strict collateral reserve rules and anti-money laundering laws while granting federal and state regulators joint enforcement authority. Hines noted that despite significant disagreements on most policy issues, discussions around stablecoins have shown a “shared commitment to defending the dollar’s dominance.” He specifically mentioned that both Democratic and Republican lawmakers recognize that if the US does not establish clear stablecoin rules soon, it risks ceding the market share of “on-chain dollars” to other countries or privately issued digital currencies.
The urgency is evident in the bill’s name—the acronym GENIUS, “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins,” directly ties “national innovation” to “US stablecoins.” Analysts point out that while dollar-pegged assets account for over 90% of the $230 billion in global stablecoin circulation, the regulatory vacuum could undermine market confidence. By enforcing transparency in reserves and compliance checks, the bill aims to convert this market advantage into institutional power.
The “On-Chain Battle” for Dollar Dominance
The Trump administration’s aggressive push for stablecoin legislation is closely tied to its broader strategy of reshaping the dollar’s global standing. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear at the White House Crypto Summit on March 7 that stablecoins will be a key tool in maintaining the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency. “We will ensure the US dollar remains the dominant reserve currency in the world through a carefully designed stablecoin regime,” Bessent stated, adding that this directive comes directly from President Trump.
Data shows that dollar-denominated stablecoins (such as USDT and USDC) currently dominate cryptocurrency trading, cross-border remittances, and on-chain financial activities. While some believe that multi-currency stablecoins may emerge in the future, Bessent emphasized that the US government’s goal is to “extend dollar dominance from the physical world to the digital realm.” By legally binding stablecoin issuance to dollar reserves, the US is effectively building a “Bretton Woods system for the blockchain era”—any alternative attempting to challenge the dollar’s status may be excluded from mainstream global markets due to non-compliance.
Market Underestimates “Regulatory Dividends”
However, Hines pointed out that the market is severely underestimating the potential impact of the stablecoin bill. He predicted that once enacted, compliant stablecoin issuers would gain market trust on par with traditional financial institutions, potentially driving trillions of dollars into on-chain payment and settlement systems. “This is not just about the cryptocurrency market; it could reshape global financial infrastructure,” Hines said. For example, if businesses can achieve real-time cross-border payments through compliant stablecoins, the inefficiencies of the current SWIFT system would become increasingly apparent.
Notably, the bill may trigger strong pushback from traditional banks. Several Wall Street institutions have privately lobbied Congress to oppose allowing non-bank entities to issue stablecoins, fearing it would erode their market share in payment services. However, Hines hinted that the White House prefers to break existing interest structures and stimulate innovation through open competition. “Stablecoins are not the enemy of traditional finance; they are allies in maintaining the dollar’s technological leadership,” he said, adding that the bill’s provision for “state-level regulatory experimentation” would create space for regional financial innovation.
Risks in the Legislative Sprint
Despite the bipartisan cooperation at the leadership level, disputes over technical details could still delay progress. For instance, there is no consensus yet on the proportion of collateral types (cash, Treasury bonds, or commercial paper) or how to handle existing non-compliant stablecoin projects. Additionally, the 2024 presidential election cycle could impact the legislative timeline—if the bill is not passed within the next two months, it may be postponed until 2025 due to election-related agenda stagnation.
Nevertheless, Hines expressed optimism about the bill’s prospects. He revealed that the White House is closely coordinating with Senate leaders to ensure that stablecoin legislation is “not entangled with other contentious issues.” This rare efficiency stems from the dollar’s real-world challenges: the accelerated development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) by multiple countries, the growing maturity of algorithmically stablecoins issued by private entities, and geopolitical volatility driving some nations to experiment with “de-dollarized” payment networks. In this context, integrating stablecoins into sovereign monetary strategy has become a critical line of defense for the US to maintain its financial hegemony.
Conclusion
From a fringe topic in the crypto industry to a national strategic tool, the “compliance journey” of stablecoins reveals a deeper trend: the essence of the digital currency war remains an extension of fiat sovereignty. By bringing on-chain economies into the dollar system through the GENIUS Act, the US is attempting to export its regulatory standards. How other countries respond to this move may determine the direction of the global financial order in the next decade. For investors, the explosion of the compliant stablecoin market could spark a new wave of infrastructure investment. At the same time, the collision between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional regulation is destined to escalate in this battle for “on-chain dominance.”
