AsianFin -- Circle Internet Group Inc. shares jumped 33.8% on Wednesday, adding to more than six-fold stock rise in just ten trading days. Stock in the company behind stablecoin USDC extended their rally after the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS bill, paving the way for the first legislation on U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins.
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In a 68-30 vote on Tuesday evening, the Senate passed the GENIUS Act, short for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act,advancing it to the House of Representatives for consideration. “The GENIUS Act will protect consumers, enable responsible innovation, and safeguard the dominance of the U.S. dollar,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., one of the sponsors of the bill, in a statement.
The bill introduces the first federal framework for the stablecoin, a specific type of cryptocurrency that is tied to the value of the U.S. dollar, gold or other underlying assets, and establishes requirements for reusing reserves and for providing safekeeping services for stablecoins, along with supervisory, examination and enforcement authority over federally qualified issuers. The bill grants sweeping authority to the Department of Treasury and opening the door to a wider range of issuers, including banks, fintechs, and retailers looking to launch their own stablecoins or integrate them into existing payment systems. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessnet last week during a Senate hearing that the U.S. stablecoin market could grow nearly eightfold to over $2 trillion in the next few years.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has called for the chamber’s Financial Services Committee to advance stablecoin legislation by the end of July. While the bill is heading to the House, Representatives are working on their own companion legislation, the STABLE Act. Both versions of the stablecoin bill ban yield-bearing consumer stablecoins, but diverge on who regulates what. The Senate’s version centralizes oversight with Treasury, while the House splits authority between the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency, and others.
Circle, as the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin by market value, went public on June 5, and its debut on the New York Stock Exchange ended with a surge of nearly 170%. In less than two weeks following the initial public offering, or IPO, Circle’s market capitalization stood at $32.8 billion as of Tuesday close. The first listed stablecoin issuer now boasts market capitalization surpassing those of 233 of the S&P 500 index’s components, including well-known names as Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI), United Airlines Holdings Inc. (UAL) and Cboe Global Markets Inc. (CBOE).
Circle stock benefited from the Senate passage of the GENIUS Act, first-of-its-kind bipartisan cryptocurrency legislation, that boosts investors’ hopes of wider adoption of the stablecoin. "Once passed into a law (likely by the end of summer), we expect stablecoins to evolve from the money rail of crypto to the money rail of the internet," analysts at brokerage Bernstein said.
"History is being made, as the US Senate passes the GENIUS Act, taking us one step closer to breakthrough legislation being signed into law that will drive US economic and national competitiveness for decades to come," Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire posted on X following the bill's passage.
