Republicans named the third week in July as “Crypto Week” and were attempting to pass three major crypto Bills.
These Bills were called:
- The GENIUS Act
- The CLARITY Act
- The anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act
The Genius Act
The GENIUS Act (short for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, also labeled S.1582/S.394) is a landmark U.S. legislation focused on establishing the country’s first-ever federal framework for regulating stablecoins.
Stablecoins are crypto assets pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar. You can think of them like Money Market Cryptos as they don’t fluctuate in price and are generally backed by something like U.S. Treasuries. The major advantage over regular Money Market funds is that they can be instantly transferred around the world for little to no fee. The U.S. Government sees this as a way to increase global demand for U.S. Treasuries. Crypto traders see them as an easy way to enter and exit positions without accessing dollars directly.
The GENIUS Act clarifies that they need to be 100% backed to prevent fraud. Issuers must back them with high-quality assets (e.g., cash, Treasurys) and mandates monthly reserve reports and annual audits. The Bill also provides consumer protections, giving stablecoin holders priority if an issuer is insolvent, and prohibits interest or yield payments (to limit speculative use), and requires proper Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance via the Bank Secrecy Act.
The CLARITY Act
The CLARITY Act would create a framework for digital assets to be categorized as either securities or commodities, which determines whether the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) has oversight. Up until now many man-hours have been spent in court determining whether a crypto (such as XRP) is a commodity or a security. This Act is designed to eliminate that confusion. Previous SEC Chairman Gary Gensler was notoriously anti-crypto, so cryptos preferred to be classified as commodities, where the requirements were less stringent. The vast majority of cryptos wanted to play by the rules but that was difficult when the rules either didn’t exist or were constantly changing.
The anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act
As we said in our article, The Potentially Devastating Differences Between CBDCs and Stablecoins Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are created by Central Banks just like Fiat Currency but they grant the Government much more control. They can be used to track all your purchases, prohibit certain purchases, or even “debank” you altogether. The the anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act was designed to prohibits the Federal Reserve from creating a CBDC in an effort to preserve financial privacy and prevent federal surveillance via digital dollars.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) likened a CBDC to a “Mark of the Beast”, i.e., a biblical symbol associated with the Antichrist. China, has already rolled out CBDCs, allowing its government to closely monitor financial transactions.
Where Legislation Stands
It was a bumpy ride as crypto legislation stalled early in the week, amid drama including rebellion from hardline Republicans due to outrage over Trump’s personal crypto interests, and an insistence on an anti-CBDC stance.
GENIUS Act-
Interestingly, the GENIUS Act was one of the few Bills this year that had bipartisan support. It passed the Senate in a 68-30 vote last month after weeks of negotiations. And after working out the differences between the Senate and House Bill, it passed the House on Thursday July 17,2025 in a 308-122 vote.
Jesse McWaters, Mastercard’s head of global policy, said, “The passage of the GENIUS Act by the U.S. Congress signals a new era of regulatory clarity and confidence in digital assets.”
President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law on July 18, 2025, making it the first federal crypto Bill ever enacted.
At the signing ceremony, Trump said, “I pledged that we would bring back American liberty and leadership, and make the United States the crypto capital of the world,” said Trump, “and that’s what we’ve done.”
Key Impacts:
- Creates clarity, enabling banks, credit unions, and regulated nonbanks to issue stablecoins under a clear legal umbrella—supporters see this as advancing US fintech competitiveness.
- Aims to bring transparency and strengthen the dollar’s global role in digital finance.
- Consumer safeguards include strict reserve rules, custody protections, and AML obligations.
- Limits speculative practices by banning issuers from offering yield on stablecoins.
- Prohibits members of Congress from profiting off stablecoin issuance.
CLARITY Act-
The Clarity Act passed the house in a 294-134 house vote with more support than expected as 78 Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the Bill. While not quite as bipartisan as the GENIUS Act it still had significant bipartisan support.
Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act
This Bill on the other hand, had staunch Democrat opposition. They were not in favor of limiting Government power to surveil and control citizens. So, this bill stalled, but Republicans added similar provisions to a “must-pass” Military appropriations bill.
On the other hand, in September 2024, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released a report summarising research on a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The report concludes that a clear public interest does not yet exist for Australia to create a CBDC. BUT, the RBA and Treasury remain open to the possibility that this assessment could change over time. Brad Jones, Assistant Governor at the RBA said, “the RBA is making a strategic commitment to prioritise its work agenda on wholesale digital money and infrastructure – including wholesale CBDC.”
You might also like:
- The Potentially Devastating Differences Between CBDCs and Stablecoins
- ETH Buy Signal
- Ethereum’s “Pectra” upgrade
- Amazon and Walmart Consider Issuing Their Own Stablecoins
- Charles Schwab is interested in introducing a stablecoin
- What is Fintech?
- Crypto Week in Congress Nearly Goes Off the Rails
- Hungary Cracks Down On Crypto Exchanges
