AFor years of false departures and regulatory repression, the future of crypto in America can be rekindled by something wrongly simple: a digital dollar that did not fluctuate in value.
The Stablecoins – The cryptocurrencies set for the US dollar – quietly become the centerpiece of Washington’s new approach to digital assets. President Donald Trump publicly kissing the crypto and the creation of Bipartite Momentum in Congress, legislators have a rare chance to pass the first major major cryptographic legislation in the country. But industry leaders warn: move too slowly, or become too ambitious, and even this narrow victory could escape.
It was the consensus to a Time100 Talks conversation entitled “The future of finance: the regulation of power innovation?” On Saturday April 26, where some of the most influential players in Crypto met before dinner of the White House correspondents to dig into the current debate on the regulation of digital assets which could well shape the next chapter of finance and economic progress for the decades to come.
The panel was moderate by Time Technology correspondent, Andrew R. Chow, and presented Dante Départe, the Director of the Circle strategy – the event sponsor – the president of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Caroline Pham, former president of the Federal Deposit Corporation (FDIC), Carole House. Panelists have agreed that a targeted and narrow bill regulating stablecoins could help consolidate the domination of the US dollar in the digital future. They argued that the congress should adopt legislation on the stablescoin now, before the wider fights on the structure of the cryptographic market derail the opportunity.
“Having worked in the Senate on many legislative efforts, it is difficult to have a bill adopted,” said McWilliams with a little laugh. “You have done what you can do, and you call it a victory.”
But despite the broad consensus on the issue, the regulations are delicate. Recent reports detailed how certain cryptographic and lobbyist companies prompted to associate legislation on stables with a broader and more complex bill of market structure – an approach that panelists seemed to oppose. “It would be a total error to try to create a joint model and separation where the stablecoins and the structure of the market are going side by side,” said disappeared. “It would deny the president a Bipartite legislative victory … The Stable bill is ready to leave and the president wants his office to sign. They can do it before summer recess, and there is energy – and I think that a deep imperative of national security to do things. ”
Indeed, there seems to be growing energy around the crypto in Washington. Trump, who formerly called Bitcoin “scam”, adopted the industry – and the industry adopted it right away. During the electoral cycle of 2024, cryptographic companies and managers paid tens of millions in campaign donations, helping to inaugurate a much more friendly congress for digital assets. In March, Trump said he hoped to sign stable legislation in August. Since then, the Chamber and the Senate have had advanced bills – the stable act and the law on engineering – on the committee, preparing the ground for what could be the first major element of cryptographic legislation in American history.
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Basically, Stablecoin is a digital token fixed to a fiduciary currency like the US dollar, designed to offer the speed and accessibility of crypto without the volatility of assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Today, Stablecoins represent a market of 238 billion dollars, against $ 152 billion a year ago, and are increasingly used for everything, from cross -border payments to decentralized finance. Supporters argue that they could strengthen the global position of the dollar, provide living lines to the economies struck by inflation and modernize the American financial system.
“For me, the key question here is not really the vehicle, but we have to focus on the result and the price,” said Pham. “The price here is that the right regulations are good. Whoever thinks that you will (have) money or the banking system without regulation is ridiculous.”
The regulation of Stablescoin, argued the panelists, does not remember innovation. It is also financial stability, national security and global competitiveness. “We must be able to provide instant payment at the internet speed and at the speed of human needs,” said disappeared. “At the national level, it is a misery to move money quickly.”
House agreed that the time to act had finally arrived, noting that the legislation on stables was debated for three consecutive congresses, blocking each time on the partisan divisions and the intestine struggles of the industry. “It was the fruit low,” she said. “I am delighted that we will finally get it, but I agree that it would be a mistake (to put the two invoices together).”
However, everything on waiting invoices inspires confidence. Some panelists have taken alarms about a provision of the Senate Engineering Act which would allow the issuers of foreign stallions to request American licenses directly through the Treasury Department – without the same surveillance facing national companies. This, he warned, could open the door to major players like Tether, an international cryptocurrency whose opaque reserve practices and regulatory controversies have worked for American officials for a long time.
Asked by Chow, the author of Cryptoma,, That the foreign issuer may be able to extinguish a stablecoin in the United States without direct supervision of the American authorities, a disaster warned that leaving it foreign issuers to operate under lighter rules could weaken confidence in the supported assets in US dollars.
“I cannot build an airbag without car, then drop it into the streets of the United States without complying with our safety standards,” he said. “What is the incitement to stay in the United States if an invoice is adopted which allows an offshore transmitter to have free access to the American banking system? … Wouldn’t it be well if the rest of this largely amorphous industry also planted flags in the United States?
House also underlined the dangers of creating an unequal playing field for companies based in the United States, warning that if the congress creates a system where stable transmitters in Offshore have easier access than American companies, which is “not, in fact, to prepare the field for real competitiveness for the American markets”.
However, political complications are looming. Trump’s growing evolution with cryptographic industry – including the launch of a Trump brand stablecoin through World Liberty Financial, the cryptographic company supported by his family – has already aroused ethical concerns. Critics fear that Trump’s direct financial participation in a market he is trying to regulate could complicate legislative efforts – or worse, politicize them.
Pham, who was appointed by former president Joe Biden as a CFTC commissioner, then appointed by Trump, noted that the current administration made crypto a much more important objective. “The previous administration had been quite skeptical of the cryptography industry, if not downright hostile,” she said. On the other hand, she praised the opening of the Trump administration, citing the very first summit of the cryptography of the White House last month – one day, Trump signed an executive decree establishing an “Bitcoin strategic reserve”.
“It was the first time to be there in the room with these new market players in an open and welcoming way without stigma,” said Pham. It underlined the need for a “regulatory framework based on principles which allows fair competition and responsible innovation”, adding that the CFTC had already canceled the opinions related to the cryptography of 2018 to reflect the quantity of market.
McWilliams, the old FDIC chair, has echoed this feeling: “The Crypto revolution, or Cryptopalooza, happens,” she said, adding that “if you are not at the table, you are on the table.”
TIME100 TALKS – The future of finance: can regulations power innovation? was presented by Circle.
