The GENIUS Act Is Signed: The US Dollar Equipped with Blockchain Armour

Beneath the dome of Capitol Hill in Washington, as Trump's pen tip crossed the final line of the GENIUS Act, thousands of miles away in a Manhattan mansion, a hedge fund manager was using USDT to pay a Nigerian supplier for goods - the transaction settled in 0.1 seconds with a fee of just $0.3. These tiny ripples on the blockchain are converging into a massive wave that is reshaping the global financial order.

Chapter 1: Dual Hegemony - The Warring States Era of Stablecoins

USDT (Market Share 61.2%): Holding $120 billion in US Treasury bonds, its scale exceeds the reserves of Germany and has become the 19th largest holder of US Treasuries globally. It is shifting its focus to the P2P remittance market, with a penetration rate as high as 43% in emerging nations.

USDC (Market Share 24.4%): Riding the compliance wave, its market value has doubled to $61 billion. With reserve assets 100% in cash and short - term government bonds, and holding top - tier licenses such as FinCEN and EMI, it is targeting an IPO in 2025 to become the "first stablecoin stock".

Table: 2025 Stablecoin Market Landscape and Strategic Positioning

Decentralized forces are rising from the cracks. USDe, launched by Ethena Labs, has seen its market value surge 42 times from $146 million to $6.2 billion, propelled by a Delta - neutral hedging strategy, ranking it the third - largest stablecoin. MakerDAO, rebranded as Sky, has its USDS exceed $2.6 billion in market value, capturing the DeFi high - ground through regulatory compliance.

Chapter 2: Bill Revolution - How GENIUS Recasts Dollar Hegemony

The GENIUS Act, passed on May 20, 2025, marks the elevation of stablecoins from a "regulatory grey area" to a strategic tool for the digitization of the US dollar:

Reserve Lock: Requires 100% US dollar asset reserves (limited to cash, short - term debt within 93 days, and money market funds), cutting off the path for algorithmic stablecoins.
Interest Isolation: Bans issuers from paying interest, with user funds isolated from bankruptcy, ending Tether's arbitrage model of investing reserves in Bitcoin.
Geopolitical Firewall: Foreign stablecoins must register in the US and accept regulation; tech giants are prohibited from issuing without permission, targeting China's digital RMB cross - border expansion.

Behind the bill lies the stark calculus of US dollar hegemony. As institutions like Tether allocate 90% of reserves to short - term US Treasuries, they become an invisible force purchasing bonds. By 2030, stablecoin issuers may become one of the largest holders of US Treasuries, funding the $36 trillion fiscal deficit. US Treasury Secretary Besent stated, "We will use stablecoins to maintain the US dollar's status as the world's reserve currency."

Chapter 3: The Battle for Returns - High - Yield Stablecoins' Survival Game

As the GENIUS Act bans interest - bearing stablecoins, a battle for yield innovation is raging in regulatory blind spots. Falcon Finance in Dubai, UAE, has emerged as a dark horse:
Its synthetic USD protocol USDf supports minting with assets like BTC and ETH, offering an annual return as high as 14.3%. By integrating Chainlink oracles and the Pendle yield platform, it constructs a Delta - neutral hedging matrix for stability in volatile markets.

This model is essentially a regulatory arbitrage - leveraging the UAE's flexible policies to circumvent US bans and achieving "high returns without interest - bearing" through on - chain strategies. With TVL surpassing $160 million, it attracts significant institutional funds fleeing USDC's low yields.

Chapter 4: Political Gambit - Trump's Stablecoin Ambitions

The Trump family's influence has long extended into the stablecoin realm. USD1, backed by World Liberty Financial, rose mysteriously before the bill's passage:
Launched in March 2025, it reached a market value of $2 billion by May, ranking it globally seventh. Democratic Senator Warren denounced it as a "shadow conduit for political donations," suspected of evading traditional bank regulation to channel funds to specific factions.

A more sophisticated design lies in the policy sphere. The Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Act incorporates 200,000 seized BTC into a permanent non - sale reserve, forming a "sovereign asset + private stablecoin" dual - track system with the GENIUS Act. This avoids fiscal controversies surrounding direct Bitcoin purchases while boosting its value by freezing 6% of circulating supply, underpinning US dollar - backed stablecoins.

Geopolitical risks hang like a Sword of Damocles. The truth behind Tether's holding of $120 billion in US Treasuries is that it ties the crypto world's stability to the US debt powder keg. Should US Treasury credit collapse, USDT would be the first domino to fall. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Stablecoin Regulation, allowing partial commercial paper reserves, indicates the Eastern bloc is building a differentiated regulatory framework. This currency war has just begun.

As Mexican farmers purchase seeds with USDT and Filipino programmers receive USDC salaries, they are unaware that they have become the capillaries of the US Dollar 2.0 system. The GENIUS Act is not the endpoint but the starting gun in the race for sovereign currency digitization.