The U.S. Finally Has Stablecoin Legislation. Can Crypto Compete With Banks?

Laura Shin (0:00)

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Dante Disparte (0:21)

Just yesterday, I had a major global meeting with probably 40 or 50 international regulators and central banks. And for the first time in my seven-year career in this sector, at the bleeding edge of this stuff, I was finally able to say America will have a set of rules for this space and you won't have to rely just on good actors in the private sector for that US representation.

Laura Shin (0:47)

Hi, everyone. Welcome to Unchained, your no-hide resource for all things crypto. I'm your host, Laura Shin. Every episode, we're featuring your comments. We got this comment in response to the recent PumpFun ICO episode with Joe McCann and Haseeb Qureshi. On X, Solanas Anatoly Yakovenko reacted to Haseeb's musings on whether Pump can really take on TikTok. He said, quote, you miss all the swings you don't take. If you want your comment featured, write a review of the podcast overall, or leave a comment on our video on YouTube, Farcaster or X. This is the July 18th, 2025 episode of Unchained. One early Bitcoiner sold 30,000 BTC too soon, missing out on over a billion dollars. Don't want to make the same mistake, but Xapo Bank eligible members can get instant cash without selling their Bitcoin. Check out xapobank.com/unchained for more. Imagine an AI that speaks crypto and does the work of a team of analysts. Trusted by 80-plus institutions, now open to serious traders like you. Visit askfocal.com.

Today's guest is Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy Operations at Circle. Welcome, Dante.

Dante Disparte (1:58)

Thank you, Laura. It's great to be with you.

Laura Shin (2:00)

So this is quite a big week for the crypto industry. It's the end of the so-called crypto week in Congress. And as we speak, the Genius Act, which is the first major piece of crypto legislation in the US, will soon be signed into law by President Trump. This is, of course, the Sablecoin Bill. It's been pursued by multiple members of Congress for many years. Just before we started recording, you said that you have been in pursuit of something like this for seven years. Is it, you know, coming into this administration, it was thought that this particular bill was a shoe-in, but on the way to passage, it actually seemed like a less certain outcome than I think most people initially thought. So, what happened to make it a nail-biter in the end, and how did it finally get over the finish line?

Dante Disparte (2:45)

Yeah, I mean, well, you know, of course, Crypto Week would not have been, I think, complete without a little bit of political intrigue and political drama. I don't think too many people had in the cards that there would be a anti-CBDC insurrection. That was part of the drama this week. But nonetheless, I mean, I think what matters is the outcomes.

And the outcomes, in some respects, surpassed all expectations. Number one, the Genius Act passed with more than 300 total votes in favor of it. 102 Democrats joined ranks with their Republican colleagues and counterparts and also voted in favor of the Genius Act. And so in an otherwise politically hyper-partisan environment in our country, passage of the Genius Act is a clearly bipartisan win for the country's interests, the national interests, the role of the dollar and so much more. So it is a big exclamation mark. Obviously, I would be remiss, Laura, to not also mention two other bills that advance as well. Clarity, which is the House's answer to crypto market structure legislation, has also received quite a lot of bipartisan votes and is expected to be taken up in earnest on the Senate side. And of course, an anti-CVDC provision as well, just to kind of drive home the point that the United States will compete in the digital currency space race through regulating dollar stablecoins.

Laura Shin (4:06)

So, as you mentioned, in the end, the bill did get quite a lot of support. And of course, along the way, we saw earlier, not even just this week, but the Democrats had a lot of objections to President Trump's crypto business deals, particularly the fact that World Liberty Financial has its own stablecoin. So I was curious to know, like, how did the Democrats get persuaded to vote for it, kind of, I guess, in greater numbers than it looked like might happen earlier?