The GENIUS Act Passes the Senate: Lead Sen. Bill Hagerty Discusses The US Stablecoin Bill

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News, Tech News, Technology

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

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Summary

Today, we discuss the recently passed Genius Bill with Senator Bill Hagerty, a key architect behind the legislation aimed at stabilizing the U.S. stablecoin market. Following a significant bipartisan Senate vote of 68-30, Sen. Hagerty shares insights on the evolving congressional perception of cryptocurrency, moving from skepticism to support. The bill seeks to foster a regulatory environment that encourages innovation while protecting users and maintaining America’s leadership in financial technology. The episode also highlights the potential economic benefits of a strong stablecoin framework and addresses concerns regarding Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAX | SELF SUFFICIENT DeFi https://bankless.cc/Frax 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🌐CELO | BUILD TOGETHER AND PROSPER https://bankless.cc/Celo 🟠 BINANCE | THE WORLDS #1 CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/binance ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Introduction to the Genius Bill 5:43 Welcoming Senator Bill Haggerty 8:55 Next Steps for the Bill 11:16 Why America Needs Stablecoin Law 14:07 Fostering a Domestic Stablecoin Economy 15:23 Addressing Detractors of the Bill 18:06 Understanding Stablecoins vs CBDCs 20:27 Who Can Issue Stablecoins? 21:01 Path for Offshore Issuers 23:54 Surveillance Concerns with Stablecoins 26:10 Addressing the Trump Loophole 27:34 The Bipartisan Nature of Crypto 28:52 Senator Haggerty's Evolution on Crypto 32:17 Establishing a Clear Regulatory Framework 34:51 Future Steps for the Crypto Industry ------ RESOURCES Sen. Bill Hagerty: https://x.com/SenatorHagerty The GENIUS Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/394/text Sec. Bessent’s Tweet: https://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/1935027160374210573 ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Bankless, where we explore the frontier of stable coins on today's episode.
0:09.0	The Genius Bill just passed in the Senate. David and I have Senator Bill Haggerty. He's one of
0:14.5	the co-authors of the Bill. He's on the episode today. David, what did you think?
0:18.3	Yeah, Bill is, he's bullish. He also shared with us a story of his first interaction with crypto and illicit payments,
0:26.5	and that was his first impression about crypto.
0:28.9	Like way back, I think it was in like 2018, 2019 when he told that story.
0:31.8	I think it was sooner than that.
0:32.2	Yeah, yeah, sooner than that.
0:33.2	Like, remember 2020 and Treasury Secretary Steve Munnuchin was very anti-crypto, anti-staple coins. I think he was
0:38.9	part of that cohort too. Yeah. So he gave us kind of a peek behind the scenes it felt like about a lot of
0:43.7	congressmen, legislators first impressions about crypto and how he changed his mind downstream of just
0:49.7	learning more about the technology, which all culminates in the Genius Act, which again, like you said, Ryan,
0:55.1	is his bill that he is pushing over the line. The Senate just voted overwhelmingly in support,
0:59.8	bipartisan support. It goes back to the House in order for the House to hopefully vote or amend,
1:06.0	but hopefully vote on that bill, and then it will eventually land on Donald Trump's desk.
1:10.5	Donald Trump has said that he
1:11.9	wants it on his desk. He wants to sign it. And so his message to the House and the message that you
1:16.8	will hear from Bill Haggerty is to the House is, guys, just vote yes and let's get this thing done,
1:22.0	which I think is my message to the House as well. That's your message of the House. It's mine as well. Okay. Let's get it done.
1:28.1	And I think there's a fair chance of this with kind of Trump and the executive branch kind of
1:32.1	giving it a push. Secretary Besson was very optimistic about the bill yesterday, talked about
1:36.9	in the context of relieving kind of U.S. debt, finding some market for the bonds, all the bonds that
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