The following is a guest post and opinion of Innokenty Isers, Chief Executive Officer at Paybis.

After years of uncertainty, stablecoin regulation is finally gaining momentum on Capitol Hill. Three competing bills—the GENIUS Act, the STABLE Act, and an unnamed proposal from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)—are vying to define the future of digital dollars in the U.S. This long-overdue push for clear rules could determine whether stablecoins could become a mainstream financial tool or remain stuck in regulatory limbo.

Earlier this month, the Senate Banking Committee advanced the GENIUS Act with an 18–6 bipartisan vote, marking the most significant step toward a federal framework for stablecoins. The bill defines a “payment stablecoin” as any crypto asset used for payments or settlements, where the issuer is obligated to redeem it for a fixed amount of U.S. dollars. 

Both GENIUS ACT and STABLE ACT establish the first federal licensing frameworks for stablecoins in the U.S. The GENIUS Act, establishes licensing, reserve, and disclosure requirements while prioritizing consumer claims in bankruptcy. It regulates both bank and nonbank stablecoin issuers, balancing state and federal oversight.

Issuers exceeding a $10 billion market cap, like Tether and Circle, must comply with OCC and Federal Reserve regulations, while smaller issuers can opt for state-level oversight.

However, a key distinction here is that the STABLE Act enforces a two-year moratorium on issuing new “endogenously collateralized stablecoins”—those backed solely by other digital assets—unless they existed before the bill’s passage.

As Washington moves forward with regulatory efforts, the U.S. stablecoin industry is undergoing important changes. If these regulations are enacted, they could play a meaningful role in shaping the broader economy. 

Stablecoins as a Digital Extension of the U.S. Dollar

Notably — the GENIUS ACT designates payment stablecoin issuers as financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, requiring them to uphold customer privacy and protect nonpublic personal information.

Under the GENIUS ACT, stablecoins that receive regulatory approval will need to be backed by high-quality liquid US assets –treasury bills and insured deposits.

The dual regulatory framework established by these bills are crucial. By balancing federal and state-level oversight, the legislation allows industry players to innovate at their own pace while maintaining regulatory safeguards.

Beyond that, in recent months, traditional financial institutions have increasingly acknowledged the role of stablecoins, with companies like Stripe and Bank of America exploring their integration. Clear regulations will help reduce risks and facilitate adoption, contributing to a stronger financial infrastructure around the US dollar.

Implications for USD Dominance

Under the new regulations, any issuer operating in the U.S. market must back its stablecoin with dollar-denominated reserves. This means that many large-scale issuers will now have to convert their assets into dollar-denominated capital and reserves. So, by default, it will lead to increased adoption and reliance on USD. 

As global demand grows, the US government can make sure that any crypto or stablecoin ecosystem developed in the country remains closely tied to USD. This alignment can help prevent foreign stablecoins or digital currencies from diminishing the dollar’s role in international trade.

If the US creates an environment where digital dollars are both innovative and secure, global investors and companies may favor US-based stablecoin issuers. Enhanced interoperability standards, as outlined in the legislation, could drive smoother cross-border transactions and integration into international payment networks. 

In the long run, this could shift market liquidity toward US-backed stablecoins, further solidifying the dollar’s dominance. Critics have warned that lax oversight could enable Big Tech to potentially privatize the dollar. However, by enshrining strict reserve and transparency standards, the bill minimizes this risk. 

What lies ahead? 

The GENIUS Act brings stablecoins closer to mainstream financial integration, boosting demand for U.S. Treasury bills. When these bills are passed in the near term, they will likely cause a surge in institutional adoption. More traditional banks and payment providers will offer stablecoin services, and we will see more settlement and liquidity management through stablecoins. So, the stablecoin market cap will only become bigger as domestic usage surges in the US. 

Once the stablecoin framework is in place, we could see the emergence of ancillary services – such as digital wallets, custody solutions, and interoperable payment networks. These services will further enhance the usability of US-backed stablecoins. These developments would create a broader ecosystem around the digital dollar.

Over time, the US stablecoin market can reduce transaction friction and lower costs for cross-border payments. It could lead to higher velocity in digital transactions and broader financial inclusion, reinforcing the dollar’s utility. 

The ability of US regulation to set global standards could also indirectly pressure other nations to align with US practices – further strengthening dollar dominance.

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Fold Holdings, a US-based Bitcoin (BTC) financial services firm, announced today the addition of 475 BTC to its corporate treasury. This acquisition positions Fold Holdings among the top 10 US public companies with the largest Bitcoin reserves.

Fold Holdings Unveils Bitcoin Purchase

Bitcoin adoption among corporations continues to snowball, as Nasdaq-listed Fold has acquired another 475 BTC. This latest purchase marks nearly a 50% increase in the company’s total BTC holdings, which now stand at slightly more than 1,485 BTC.

Notably, the firm financed its BTC acquisition through the issuance of a convertible note at a 100% premium, with a conversion price of $12.50 per share. Commenting on the development, Fold CEO Will Reeves stated:

We believe Bitcoin will play a key role in the foundation of a new financial era, and Fold will help lead the way. As the first publicly traded bitcoin financial services company, we believe maintaining a significant bitcoin treasury not only drives value for our shareholders, but more importantly, strengthens our ability to power the next generation of financial services built on bitcoin.

Reeves further emphasized that Fold’s Bitcoin corporate treasury serves a dual purpose. It not only provides value to investors seeking BTC exposure, but also functions as a strategic reserve to support the firm’s Bitcoin-native financial products.

Fold’s share price (FLD) surged by more than 27% yesterday, closing the day at $7.71. However, in pre-market trading, the stock has dipped slightly to $7.50 at the time of writing. On a year-to-date basis, FLD remains down by over 30%.

BTC Adoption Likely to Gain Further Traction

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) and a Digital Asset Stockpile. The establishment of an SBR further legitimizes BTC as a reliable store of value, now recognized by the world’s largest economy.

The formation of a US SBR is expected to trigger a domino effect, prompting other nations to establish their own BTC reserves in an effort to accumulate ‘digital gold.’ Countries like El Salvador and Bhutan already hold significant BTC reserves.

As nation-states increasingly embrace BTC as an asset class, corporations worldwide are likely to follow suit. Michael Saylor’s Strategy currently ranks first among public companies in terms of BTC holdings, with more than 440,000 BTC, according to CoinGecko data.

Yesterday, Brazilian fintech and publicly traded company Meliuz announced that it had allocated 10% of its total cash reserves to BTC. Similarly, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas recently disclosed that 70% of his portfolio is allocated to BTC and related investments.

That said, concerns persist over BTC’s volatility, with some arguing that it behaves more like a speculative asset than a reliable store of value. At press time, BTC is trading at $90,192, up 0.5% in the past 24 hours.

Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Charts from Yahoo! Finance and TradingView.com

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Ethena Labs has integrated Chaos Labs’ data authenticity technology, Edge Proof oracles, to strengthen the risk management framework for its synthetic dollar token USDe.

Edge oracles will independently verify the total dollar value of the USDe’s reserves and the reserve coverage of USDe’s supply and confirm that reserves are governance-approved and delta-neutral. Chaos Labs shared the announcement exclusively with CoinDesk.

USDe, a synthetic stablecoin, maintains a soft peg with the U.S. dollar through an automated delta-hedging strategy that shorts bitcoin and ether perpetual futures to offset changes in the prices of these cryptocurrencies.

The synthetic stablecoin experienced volatility over the weekend, falling to 0.982 against tether and 0.988 against USDC, per Kaiko, amid fears that the protocol has multi-million dollar exposure to Bybit’s ether (ETH) derivatives market. The exchange was hacked late Friday, with a malicious entity draining over $1 billion in ether.

The so-called de-peg, however, was short-lived as Ethena assured investors that all assets backing USDe were held off-exchange and its reserve fund was more than enough to compensate for any losses from the Bybit exploit.

The integration with Chaos Labs adds another layer of credibility to USDe’s reserves, ensuring they stay secure and transparent.

The Edge Proof of Reserves (PoR) oracles will constantly monitor the reserve levels of tokens and check the collateral backing them. This is done by smoothly integrating off-chain data from custodians and centralized exchanges into the on-chain environment, ensuring scalable and robust support for institutional-grade applications.

The integration also provides automated alerts to notify users of any data anomalies or if reserve levels fall below the required thresholds. Verified data is publicly displayed on Ethena’s transparency page and attestor interfaces, keeping stakeholders informed.

“This integration ensures continuous, independent verification of reserves, fostering greater transparency and security for all users. By leveraging real-time, tamper-resistant data, Ethena reinforces its commitment to a robust and reliable synthetic dollar,” the announcement said.

Chaos Labs’ Edge oracle leverages zero-knowledge proofs to ensure security and privacy while providing real-time and transparent data verification, including for reserves held off-chain or across different blockchains.

These oracles have secured over $70 billion in volume, delivering risk management to decentralized finance (DeFi) giants like AAVE, Jupiter, GMX, and Tether.

The big picture: Apple is said to be revisiting a plan to monetize its Maps app through advertising. According to Bloomberg’s well-connected Mark Gurman, Apple considered baking search ads into Maps years ago but ultimately shelved the idea. The integration would reportedly mirror what Google does with its Maps app, allowing businesses to pay a fee in exchange for being featured more prominently in search results and on the map.

Ideally, when searching for a business like a restaurant in a mapping application, you would want the most relevant results – whether based on relevance or proximity – rather than those that simply pay to appear at the top of the list.

As Gurman highlights, Apple has pushed to make ads a bigger part of its business strategy in recent years. Staples like the Stocks app and Apple News now include advertising, and Apple has also prioritized ads with regard to its push into live sports.

Sources told Gurman that during a recent all-hands meeting with the Maps team, Apple executives said monetizing Maps is something they are once again considering. Work on the effort hasn’t started and there is no timetable for a consumer rollout, but the possibility certainly exists.

Google already engages in this practice, but they are not the only ones. Others that play in the same or related space including Waze and Yelp also utilize paid search promotion.

It is a bit surprising that Apple is contemplating the move, especially considering its recent performance. Cupertino reported a record holiday quarter with revenue of $124.3 billion despite a small dip in iPhone earnings.

In fact, the services division, which includes things like App Store purchases, subscriptions, AppleCare, and more, reached a new all-time high of $26.3 billion – up from $23.1 billion during the same period a year earlier. Apple CFO Kevan Parekh said the division is accretive to the overall company margin.

Shares in Apple are up 1.27 percent as of writing, trading hands at $244.60.

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