GENIUS Act Passes As Stablecoin Rules Head To The White House

Forbes

10 hours ago

Stable Coin. getty
On July 17, 2025, the U.S. House officially passed the GENIUS Act, clearing the final legislative hurdle for the first federal framework governing corporate-issued, fiat-backed stablecoins. A historic shift is now underway.
I still remember the moment that made me pause.
I was reviewing a payment systems chart when something unexpected jumped out: stablecoin transfers are faster and cheaper than every other major U.S. payment method. We're talking less than a penny and under a second. Compared to $30 international wire fees or a 3–5 day ACH delay, it felt like I was staring at a before-and-after photo of the internet age, except this time, it was money that had gone digital.
And the world hadn't quite caught up.
Over the past 12 months, stablecoins have quietly processed $33 trillion in transaction volume. That's nearly 20 times the volume of PayPal, about three times that of Visa, and rapidly catching up to ACH—the decades-old workhorse of U.S. payments.
This is more than a volume story, it's a velocity story. Stablecoins now settle in less than one second, cost under a cent, and run 24/7, even on weekends and holidays. With blockchain infrastructure upgrades like Solana, Base, and Arbitrum, stablecoins have evolved from clunky experiments into real, scalable alternatives to legacy rails. The Treasury Effect: Stablecoins and U.S. Debt
The impact goes beyond payments. Stablecoins now collectively hold $128 billion in U.S. Treasuries which is more than sovereign holders like Germany, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea. According to Citi, that number could reach $3.7 trillion by 2030, making stablecoin issuers the largest holders of U.S. debt.
Analysts at Standard Chartered now suggest that once the stablecoin market cap hits $750 billion (currently ~$258 billion), they may begin to reshape the structure of the U.S. Treasury markets themselves.
Over 1% of the total U.S. dollar supply is already tokenized, giving these digital dollars real weight in global economic systems. Retail Giants And Banks Are Building Their Own Coins
Amazon and Walmart are not watching from the sidelines. Both companies are building internal teams exploring the launch of their own stablecoins, as reported by Axios and The Wall Street Journal. Their motivations are clear.
Credit card fees of 2–3% on hundreds of billions in annual transactions represent enormous savings if replaced by blockchain-based payments. Stablecoins also enable real-time refunds, direct customer relationships, and loyalty systems that can be personalized and instantly redeemable.
Imagine earning your cash-back in an 'Amazon Dollar' that arrives in real time, can be spent instantly, or even used for subscriptions. That's no longer science fiction, it's a pilot project.
Major U.S. banks like Bank of America and Citibank are jumping into the stablecoin game. They're timing this push perfectly as the country gets more crypto-friendly with its regulations. It's a big shift seeing traditional banks embrace digital currencies like this. The move shows how mainstream stablecoins are becoming in the financial world. GENIUS Act Ushers In a New Era
With bipartisan support and a growing sense of urgency around digital innovation, this moment marks a turning point. The GENIUS Act delivers long-awaited regulatory clarity—giving corporations, fintechs, and financial institutions the green light to build with confidence.
Supporters are already comparing its potential to the Telecom Act of 1996, which sparked a wave of internet-era transformation. Now, with clear rules in place, businesses can reimagine payments using stablecoins that are faster, cheaper, programmable, and available 24/7.
Expect Fortune 500 companies, banks, and consumer platforms to act fast. The rails for programmable money are being laid—and the future of finance just got a lot closer. Global Eyes on Stablecoins Since the GENIUS Act Passed
While the U.S. advances regulation through the GENIUS Act, the global stage is also elevating stablecoins to the top of the financial agenda. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, now head of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), has declared that assessing stablecoins' role in payments and settlements is a top priority for the G20. This marks a global acknowledgment that stablecoins are no longer experimental—they're fundamental to the future of payments. Beyond Crypto Speculation and the GENIUS Act: Real Use Cases
For years, stablecoins were dismissed as tools for traders. But today, the data tells a different story. Businesses are using them to settle B2B invoices, streamline international payments, offer programmable loyalty rewards, and handle real-time refunds.
What's more telling: stablecoin activity is increasingly uncorrelated with crypto trading volume, a clear sign of product-market fit. This means people aren't just using stablecoins to move between coins during market swings; they're using them as infrastructure for commerce and utility.
Demand is also increasingly coming from non-crypto-native companies that view stablecoins as a superior cross-border technology, not just a speculative asset. This shift in perception signals that the use case for stablecoins is rooted in performance and efficiency, not hype.
Fintech leaders like Circle, PayPal, and JPMorgan are already deep in the space. Visa and Mastercard have integrated stablecoin capabilities. Globally, Ant Group and others are testing regulated stablecoins in Asia, while travel companies explore crypto-based payment options. For the GENIUS Act, Who's Leading in Stablecoin Infrastructure
On the issuer side, it's a race between USDC (by Circle) and Tether. On the infrastructure side, Ethereum and Tron remain dominant. But chains like Solana, Arbitrum, and Base are showing rapid growth and becoming go-to options for lower-cost, high-throughput transfers.
Circle's USDC Stablecoin leads the way (Photo Illustration) Getty Images
This is a new kind of infrastructure war—driven by fees, speed, and regulatory readiness. The Emerging Savings Layer of Stablecoins With the GENIUS Act
In a recent conversation with Morpho, a leader in the lending protocol space, Merlin Egalite, their co-founder, noted a subtle but significant shift: 'Lending protocols are becoming the 'savings layer' of stablecoins. What started as infrastructure for borrowing has evolved into the backbone for earning yield on digital dollars. Users aren't just borrowing, they're parking capital, earning returns, and treating these platforms like high-yield savings accounts. It's a natural convergence: stablecoins offer price stability, and protocols like ours provide programmable, decentralized interest. Together, they're becoming the foundation of the new digital economy.'
Merlin Egalite, co-founder at Morpho, focuses on the savings layer for Stablecoins Morpho
Since issuers like Circle or Tether can't directly offer users T-bill-like returns, protocols like Morpho are stepping in. Through integrations such as Bors, they're enabling 4–5% yield on stablecoins, essentially building a yield-generating foundation under these digital dollars.
Other platforms like Deribit now offer 4% yield to USDC holders, and startups like Dakota are raising millions to help businesses move funds between dollars and stablecoins seamlessly. Meanwhile, market makers, who are the liquidity engines behind crypto markets, are emerging as quiet winners in this shift, benefiting from relentless demand for stablecoins.
It's a quiet evolution, but it could be a defining one, reshaping how stablecoins remain competitive in a world where users increasingly expect their money to earn, not just move. Strategic Actions for Business Leaders With The Passing of the GENIUS Act
Whether you're in retail, finance, e-commerce, or logistics, stablecoins should now be part of your strategic planning.
Here's what you can do today: Audit your payment stack: Where are the bottlenecks and costs?
Explore pilot programs with stablecoin partners or wallets.
Monitor how the GENIUS Act will be implemented and enforced.
Consider how programmable money could enhance loyalty, refunds, and cross-border operations. With the GENIUS Act, A New Financial Architecture Is Emerging
We are witnessing a financial transformation as significant as the move from dial-up to broadband. Infrastructure improvements have unlocked a new generation of programmable, cost-effective, and scalable money.
As Amazon, Bank of America and Walmart enter the fray, stablecoins aren't just for crypto enthusiasts—they're a mainstream business tool with the potential to reshape everything from checkout to customer engagement to global supply chains.
The future of money is unfolding in real time. With the GENIUS Act passed and global regulators aligning, we may look back on this as the moment the world's payment systems caught up to the internet age.
As one investment leader put it:
'Eventually, 50% of global payments are going to be made in stablecoins.' If that's true, the transformation has only just begun.
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