“Stablecoins represent a revolution in digital finance,” announced US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins) Act into law. What Bessent called a revolution was, in effect, the formalisation of a new instrument of American influence—one built not on banks or trade, but on code.
Stablecoins are blockchain-based tokens whose value is pegged to traditional assets like the US dollar that were designed to merge the borderless speed of cryptocurrencies with the stability of sovereign money. For years, crypto operated in regulatory grey zones, raising questions about systemic risk and state control. The GENIUS Act marks the first comprehensive legal framework for their issuance in the United States, requiring that every stablecoin be backed by US Treasuries.