27.6 trillion dollars in stablecoin transactions in 2024: this volume exceeds by 7.68% the combined total of Visa and Mastercard. A financial mass that is transforming monetary geopolitics.
On July 18, 2025, President Trump signs the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, creating the first comprehensive American federal framework for stablecoins. This bipartisan legislation standardizes a 280 billion dollar market and establishes rules that are already influencing the European Union, Asia, and global payment systems.
The Essentials
- Stablecoins processed 27.6 trillion dollars in 2024, surpassing the giants of traditional payment
- The GENIUS Act excludes compliant stablecoins from SEC and CFTC regulations, creating a new asset category
- Europe is concerned about its monetary sovereignty in the face of this American regulatory domination
- Foreign issuers can access the American market under strict conditions, redefining international financial flows
The Digital Dollar Becomes Public Infrastructure
Issuers must maintain reserves backing stablecoins according to a 1:1 ratio, composed solely of American dollars and short-term Treasury bonds. This architecture transforms stablecoins into a digital extension of the American monetary system.
Subsidiaries of insured depository institutions issuing stablecoins fall under the supervision of their primary financial regulator, while federal non-bank issuers are supervised by the OCC. The American banking system thus becomes the guardian of this new digital currency.
The 1:1 backing requirement by high-quality assets creates massive structural demand for American Treasury bonds. In 2024, net purchases of Treasury securities by stablecoin issuers were comparable to those of investors from major jurisdictions. This dynamic paradoxically strengthens the financing of American debt through cryptographic innovation.
A Weapon of Monetary Soft Power
The GENIUS Act prohibits digital asset service providers from offering stablecoins issued by foreign issuers, unless they originate from a qualified jurisdiction with a comparable regulatory framework. Washington thus grants itself a veto right over global digital currencies.
Authorized foreign issuers must register with the OCC and hold reserves in an American financial institution sufficient to meet liquidity demands from American customers. This sovereignty clause forces global players to anchor their operations in the American financial system.
The GENIUS Act goes further than MiCA by empowering and encouraging the American Department of the Treasury to pursue regulatory passporting and harmonization with comparable jurisdictions. This opens the door for US-regulated issuers to expand internationally. The European approach remains continental; the American approach targets global hegemony.
Europe Strikes Back Through Fragmentation
The adoption of the GENIUS Act triggered a debate in Europe on the risks such developments could pose to the bloc. Policymakers express concerns about monetary sovereignty and payment systems. Brussels is discovering that financial innovation can become geopolitical.
ECB President Christine Lagarde shares similar concerns, emphasizing the threat of stablecoins denominated in American dollars to monetary policy and European autonomy, and pushing for the development of a digital euro. Europe reacts by creating alternatives rather than adopting.
Europe saw a rotation toward MiCA-compliant stablecoins because cryptographic asset service providers were generally restricted from offering non-compliant stablecoins. This fragmentation creates two parallel ecosystems: one European and regulated by MiCA, the other global and dominated by American standards.
Circle secured a French electronic money institution license, making USDC and EURC the first MiCA-compliant stablecoins in Europe. Tether refused to comply with MiCA for USDT in Europe, citing incompatibility and withdrew or faced delisting. Regulatory geography is redefining the issuer ecosystem.
American Banks Capture the Infrastructure
Institutions wishing to establish their own stablecoins must be chartered at the federal or state level. Banks must create a subsidiary that would serve as a stablecoin issuer, supervised by the bank’s primary federal regulator. The traditional banking system is seizing decentralized innovation.
In 2024, stablecoins represented nearly half of transaction volume on the Fireblocks platform. With over 300 banks and payment providers on board, Fireblocks processes 15% of global stablecoin volume. Crypto infrastructure is gradually becoming bancary.
Several established financial institutions are exploring participation in the stablecoin ecosystem under the new framework. Market analysts anticipate this could expand the number of issuers, introducing greater competition in a space currently dominated by Tether and Circle. Regulation paradoxically opens competition by securing the market.
Global Standardization Through Mimicry
MiCA is in full application; issuers must be authorized by July 1, 2026 or risk exclusion. Global consensus requires 1:1 high-quality reserves, licenses, monthly audits, instantaneous redemption, and AML/KYC. American and European standards converge toward similar requirements.
Stablecoin regulation in 2025-2026 converges toward a clear core: licensed issuance, conservative and transparent reserves, enforceable redemption rights, and strict compliance controls around transfers and intermediaries. Regimes differ in structure, but the operational destination is similar.
In 2020, the G20 published the Roadmap for the implementation of the crypto-assets policy framework, updated by the Financial Stability Board in 2023. FSB recommendations include cross-border collaboration and information sharing, transparent disclosures of reserve composition, and compliance with global AML/CFT measures. Harmonization progresses through alignment with regulatory leaders.
The GENIUS Act does not merely regulate a 280 billion dollar market. It standardizes global digital monetary infrastructure around the dollar and the American financial system. Facing this legislative hegemony, Europe fragments, Asia adapts, but all follow the direction imposed by Washington. Decentralized financial innovation paradoxically becomes a vector of geopolitical centralization around the United States.
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