Passed on Wednesday, June 11, the GENIUS Act is moving closer to a final vote in the Senate. Backed by Donald Trump and supported by the Treasury, this bill could cause the market for dollar-backed stablecoins to explode, estimated to be worth more than $2 trillion by 2028. This is a pivotal moment for the cryptosphere, which could redefine the use of the dollar in Web3.
The GENIUS Act passes a key milestone in the Senate
The dollar-backed stablecoin market is poised to enter a new era. On Wednesday, the US Senate voted 68-30 in favor of closing debate on the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act), paving the way for a final vote in the near future.
Before the Appropriations Committee, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended this roadmap:
I think $2 trillion is a very reasonable number, and I can easily imagine it being exceeded by a wide margin.
For Bill Hagerty, the senator behind the bill, this legislation “will strengthen the US fiscal position and cement the dollar’s role as a reserve currency.” President Donald Trump, who wants to sign the bill “before August,” sees stablecoins as a major geopolitical asset for the dollar.
If the final vote is successful, the stablecoin market, already valued at $263 billion according to Bill Hagerty, could experience unprecedented growth.
Legislation on stablecoins, backed by US Treasury bills, will create a market that will expand the use of the US dollar through these stablecoins around the world.
Traditional players are already positioning themselves
The prospect of a clear framework is whetting Wall Street’s appetite. Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, has confirmed that the bank “has no choice” if it does not want to be left behind in this race, and is preparing its own dollar-indexed token. Other institutions—JPMorgan, State Street, and Citi—are also testing internal prototypes, betting on rapid adoption in interbank settlements.
On the crypto-native issuer side, Circle made a splashy debut on the New York Stock Exchange in early June: CRCL shares jumped 235% on their first day of trading, a sign of continued appetite for stablecoin-based business models.
This stock market fervor, combined with record flows to USDT and USDC, is already fueling the liquidity of Bitcoin and Ethereum, whose volumes are largely settled via these dollar tokens.
Analysts believe that the combination of regulatory oversight and the arrival of banking giants could increase market capitalization tenfold by 2028. It remains to be seen whether the promise of transparency and security required by the GENIUS Act will be enough to overcome the last remaining political reservations — led by Elizabeth Warren — who still fear a “time bomb effect” on the financial system.
