Senators plan to amend GENIUS Act to address Trump family’s stablecoin
Though a majority of members of the US Senate voted to advance a bill to regulate payment stablecoins on May 20, high-ranking Democrats are planning to propose an amendment to the legislation to address President Donald Trump’s connections to the cryptocurrency industry.
According to a May 22 Axios report, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley will file an amendment to the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, to block a US president from profiting from stablecoins. The proposed amendment would come after 18 Democrats sided with Republicans in the Senate in voting to advance the bill on May 20 after it failed a procedural vote on May 8.
“Passing the GENIUS Act without our anti-corruption amendment stamps a Congressional seal of approval on Trump selling access and influence to the highest bidder,” Merkley said in a May 22 X post.
Trump his three sons are involved in the crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which launched its USD1 stablecoin in March. Critics have pointed out that the president could continue to personally benefit from legislation that helps recognize stablecoins like USD1 as financial instruments in the US.
Related: US lawmaker introduces anti-corruption bill ahead of Trump’s dinner An Abu Dhabi-based investment firm said that it would use USD1 to settle a $2-billion investment in Binance, effectively allowing the president’s family to profit from the transaction fees. Democratic lawmakers have already called for an investigation into Trump’s connections to the platform, which was largely dismissed as “flawed” by WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff. Merkley and Warren are also planning responses to Trump hosting a dinner at his golf club for up to 220 people who purchased the most significant amounts of his personal memecoin. Merkley is expected to attend a protest organized by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, in partnership with progressive political organization Our Revolution, outside the Trump venue on May 22. Warren held a press conference with Merkley, Senator Chris Murphy and Public Citizen representatives, calling on Trump to “release the guest list” for the dinner event. Though a few of the potential attendees have publicly announced they were the owners of the wallets who purchased the memecoin and intended to go, the majority were still anonymous at the time of publication. “What is happening tonight — this private, secret dinner — in which individuals who have put money in Donald Trump’s pocket, get access to him, is maybe the most corrupt of all the corruption,” said Murphy, adding: “They were able to pay their way in to get an audience with the President of the United States to ask for favorable national security concessions.” Cointelegraph reached out to the White House for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication. Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
Stablecoins are just one of many potential conflicts, say Democrats
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 118,605.00
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,670.99
XRP (XRP) $ 3.50
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00
Solana (SOL) $ 199.67
BNB (BNB) $ 761.17
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999875
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.262723
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,670.53
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.868181
TRON (TRX) $ 0.312647
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 118,436.00
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 44.01
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,425.71
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.460540
Sui (SUI) $ 3.89
Chainlink (LINK) $ 19.10
Wrapped Beacon ETH (WBETH) $ 3,930.49
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.266856
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 24.94
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,931.05
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 517.67
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000015
Litecoin (LTC) $ 114.71
Toncoin (TON) $ 3.41
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.99
WETH (WETH) $ 3,678.65
USDS (USDS) $ 0.999944
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 1.00
Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.39
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 118,705.00
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 44.47
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.42
Monero (XMR) $ 326.08
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000014
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.81
Aave (AAVE) $ 306.12
Bittensor (TAO) $ 433.29
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.123700
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999989
Pi Network (PI) $ 0.477152
Ethena Staked USDe (SUSDE) $ 1.18
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 23.58
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 2.91
Aptos (APT) $ 5.23
Ondo (ONDO) $ 1.04
Jito Staked SOL (JITOSOL) $ 243.78
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.93
Ethena (ENA) $ 0.501648
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.109907
OKB (OKB) $ 48.23
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000035
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.796778
Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) $ 0.040090
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.285038
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.470998
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) $ 1.00
VeChain (VET) $ 0.027273
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 5.02
Render (RENDER) $ 4.40
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.247683
Binance-Peg WETH (WETH) $ 3,674.32
USD1 (USD1) $ 1.00
Worldcoin (WLD) $ 1.22
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 10.75
Gate (GT) $ 17.27
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 0.791923
Binance Staked SOL (BNSOL) $ 212.61
Sei (SEI) $ 0.339207
Fasttoken (FTN) $ 4.49
Filecoin (FIL) $ 2.82
Jupiter (JUP) $ 0.616016
SPX6900 (SPX) $ 1.95
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.06
Sky (SKY) $ 0.084273
Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (RSETH) $ 3,845.71
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 4,185.66
Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) $ 118,385.00
Jupiter Perpetuals Liquidity Provider Token (JLP) $ 5.20
Flare (FLR) $ 0.022801
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) $ 1.57
XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.095587
KuCoin (KCS) $ 12.03
Celestia (TIA) $ 2.12
USDtb (USDTB) $ 1.00
Injective (INJ) $ 14.74
Story (IP) $ 4.87
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.999636
StakeWise Staked ETH (OSETH) $ 3,867.99
FLOKI (FLOKI) $ 0.000142
USDT0 (USDT0) $ 1.00
Mantle Staked Ether (METH) $ 3,938.34
Optimism (OP) $ 0.769115
Stacks (STX) $ 0.845927
NEXO (NEXO) $ 1.33
Liquid Staked ETH (LSETH) $ 3,976.69
Pump.fun (PUMP) $ 0.003658
Polygon Bridged USDT (Polygon) (USDT) $ 1.00
Curve DAO (CRV) $ 0.921857
