When Congress created Securities and Exchange Commission in 1934, it responded to countless failures in an outdated financial system. The legislative architecture that emerged provided the basis for almost a century of American economic dominance. Today, Congress faces a comparable moment: the opportunity to modernize America’s economic infrastructure for the digital age.
Two legislative pieces now, before the legislators, the genius are about stableecoin and extensive market structure reform, represent more than incremental political adjustments. Together, they make up America’s response to a fundamental shift in how money is moving around the world.
The effort is significant. The StableCOin market of $ 240 billion, expected to reach $ 3.7 trillion by 2030, has emerged as critical financial infrastructure largely outside of formal regulatory framework. Almost all major stableecoins are volunteering to the dollar, creating a curious phenomenon: private companies that build detailed technology to make US currency work better globally than existing payment systems.
This development comes as America’s monetary hegemony faces its most serious challenge for generations. China’s digital yuan initiatives, bric -alternative payment systems and growing reluctance among trading partners to act in dollars signalizes a coordinated effort to bypass US financial influence.
StableCecoins offer America’s most effective response. They expand dollar accessibility globally while retaining transparency and legal benefits that make the US financial system attractive. Genius Act would formalize this system and establish reserve requirements, audit standards and consumer protection that make dollar -supported digital assets both safer and more attractive than alternatives.
Still, currency frastructure alone may not be sufficient. The current approach to applying the 20th century rules to the 21st century technology has yielded predictable results: Innovation that migrates to jurisdictions with clearer and more inviting rules.
The Federal Court of Justice in November, which vacated SEC’s extended dealer definition, illustrates the problem. Supervisory authorities had stretched statutory language so far beyond the original intention that judicial intervention became inevitable.
Digital asset platforms integrate functions that traditional funding deliberately separate, creating new efficiency along with new risks. To force these platforms for regulatory categories designed for different business models produce neither clarity nor protection. Comprehensive market structure legislation would establish tailor -made registration frameworks that actually match how these companies work, something the crypto ecosystem has advocated for years.
The integration imperative here is crucial. American economic supremacy in the 20th century did not originate in any single innovation, but from systematic coordination across monetary policy, market regulation and institutional supervision. Today’s challenge requires similar context. Digital dollar infrastructure without a proper market structure leaves innovation vulnerable to regulatory uncertainty. Reform of the market structure without stablecoin clarity limits the global reach of US monetary policy.
International competition intensifies this urgent character. The European Union markets in crypto assets (Glitter) Regulation, Britain’s stablecoin framework and similar initiatives throughout Asia represent direct challenges as US management in financial technology. These frameworks may not be superior to what America could construct, but they exist, which is often a crucial advantage of attracting global investment and innovation.
In fact, there is another step that American elected officials can take to ensure that the promise of crypto is not undermined: pass rep. Tom Emmer’s legislation prohibiting the development of the US in a central bank’s digital currency (CBDC). While several other countries have discussed such a roll-out, US legislators should embrace our domestic privacy ideals and broad anti-surge mood by supporting this important legislation.
The Senate’s 68-30 Passage of the Genius Act suggests to grow political recognition of Crypto’s political strength and the realities of international competition. Even skeptical Democrats recognize the state game with senator Mark Warner (D.-VA) Recently observed that if US legislators are unable to shape cryptocurrency regulation, “others will – and not in ways that serve our interests or democratic values.”
President Trump’s obligation to sign legislation before exit in August creates both opportunity and deadline. The political foundation seems solid: Bipartisan support, the industry’s consensus on key principles and competition pressures that occasionally motivate effective governance.
Still, there are still significant obstacles. Congress capacity for technical legislation is limited in a heated partial political climate, and the temptation to pursue symbolically rather than systematic reform runs strong. The complexity of integrating stablecoin regulation with a wider reform of the market structure requires exactly the kind of patient, coordinated decision making that American politics sometimes struggle to produce.
The choice that Congress is facing is ultimately straightforward: LED the development of Global Digital Financing Infrastructure or gave this role to competitors. For the first time this year, economic logic, political momentum and strategic necessity are in line. Whether American lawmakers can benefit from this convergence will not only determine the fate of cryptocurrency regulation, but America’s role in the next generation of global funding.
Regulatory framework of the 1930s served America well for almost a century. Its digital successor, if properly constructed, could earn even longer.
