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This is On Point. I'm Megna Chakra-Bardi.

Someone must be rather pleased with themselves for coming up with the official title of Senate Bill 394.

The title is The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stable Coins Act,

a.k.a. the G.N.I. U.S. or Genius Act.

The bill aims to create a regulatory framework for a type of cryptocurrency known as

stablecoins. The legislation would also allow banks, and even companies like Amazon or Walmart,

to issue their own stable coins under specified conditions. The Senate gave the crypto industry

its first big legislative win

when it passed the Genius Act last month.

The House is expected to vote on it next week.

Now, the crypto industry says the Genius Act will modernize the U.S. economy.

Skeptics say we've been here before, with banks and companies issuing their own

currencies, and it did not go well. So let's better understand the nitty-gritty of the Genius Act

and whether it will or won't modernize the U.S. economy. And to do so, we're going to start

with Zeke Fox. He's an investigative reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek

and the author of Number Go Up, Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall. Zique, it's great to have you back.

Hi, Megan. So I'm going to admit that no matter how many times we do shows about crypto, I never fully understand it.

So I wanted to start with the, like, the 101.

What is a stable coin?

...