Washington, DC: US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Bill into law on Friday, July 18, to offer a comprehensive regulatory framework to dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins.
The Bill was passed in the US Congress with a majority of 308 to 122, with support from nearly half of the Democratic members and most Republicans.
This law, one of the ‘crypto week’ bills to be considered by Congress, marks the fulfillment of a key campaign promise by Donald Trump as his administration aims to regularize its use.
Cryptocurrencies, once derided as fringe assets, have seen a meteoric rise lately, with Bitcoin’s value soaring past $1,20,000.
Cryptocurrency advocates and companies have cheered this legislation, which had long lobbied for a dedicated regulatory framework for an industry that is now worth almost $4 trillion, almost at par with the economy of India.
After this legislation, the use of stablecoin, pegged at 1:1 to the US dollar, will see an explosion in use, allowing banks and other institutional investors to consider issuing these virtual tokens as per the regulations. Crypto industry leaders hope this, along with other bills that is up for discussion in Congress this week, should make crypto investing mainstream for sending and receiving payments.
According to crypto data provider CoinGecko, the stablecoin market is worth upwards of $260 billion, and this could grow to $2 trillion by 2028 after the new law comes into effect.
