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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a law to create a regulatory regime for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins, a milestone that could pave the way for the digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money.
The bill, dubbed the GENIUS Act, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 308 to 122, with support from nearly half the Democratic members and most Republicans. It had earlier been approved by the Senate.
The law is a huge win for crypto supporters, who have long lobbied for such a regulatory framework in a bid to gain greater legitimacy for an industry that began in 2009 as a digital Wild West famed for its innovation and speculative chaos.
“This signing is a massive validation of your hard work and pioneering spirit,” said Trump at a signing event that included dozens of government officials, crypto executives and lawmakers. “It’s good for the dollar and it’s good for the country.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a statement, said the new technology would buttress the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency, expand access to the dollar economy and boost demand for US Treasuries, which back stablecoins.
Stablecoins are designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 US dollar peg, and their use has exploded, notably by crypto traders moving funds between tokens. The industry hopes they will enter mainstream use for sending and receiving payments instantly.
The new law requires stablecoins to be backed by liquid assets — such as US dollars and short-term Treasury bills — and for issuers to disclose publicly the composition of their reserves monthly.

 

Crypto companies and executives argue such legislation will enhance stablecoins’ credibility and make banks, retailers and consumers more willing to use them to transfer funds instantly.
The stablecoin market, which crypto data provider CoinGecko said is valued at more than $260 billion, could grow to $2 trillion by 2028 under the new law, Standard Chartered bank estimated earlier this year.
The law’s passage culminates a long lobbying effort by the industry, which donated more than $245 million in last year’s elections to aid pro-crypto candidates including Trump, according to Federal Election Commission data.
The Republican president, who has launched his own coin, thanked executives for their support during the 2024 presidential campaign, saying, “I pledged that we would bring back American liberty and leadership and make the United States the crypto capital of the world, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Democrats and critics have said the law should have blocked big tech companies from issuing their own stablecoins, which could increase the clout of an already powerful sector, contained stronger anti-money laundering protections and prohibited foreign stablecoin issuers.
“By failing to close known loopholes and protect America’s digital dollar infrastructure, Congress has risked making the US financial system a global haven for criminals and adversarial regimes to exploit,” said Scott Greytak, deputy executive director of Transparency International US

Could boost demand for T-bills
Big US banks are internally debating an expansion into cryptocurrencies as regulators give stronger backing to digital assets, but banks’ initial steps will focus on pilot programs, partnerships or limited crypto trading, Reuters reported in May.
Several crypto firms including Circle and Ripple are seeking banking licenses, which would cut costs by bypassing intermediary banks.
Backers of the bill have said it could potentially give rise to a new source of demand for short-term US government debt, because stablecoin issuers will have to purchase more of the debt to back their assets.
Trump has sought to broadly overhaul US cryptocurrency policies, signing an executive order in March establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve.
The president launched a meme coin called $TRUMP in January and partly owns crypto company World Liberty Financial. 

LOS ANGELES: An explosion at a Los Angeles law enforcement training facility early Friday that killed three deputies was being investigated as a possible training accident, officials said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the deputies were members of the arson and explosives unit, a team that goes through in-depth training and responds to more than 1,000 calls a year.

“They have years of training,” he said. “They are fantastic experts and, unfortunately, I lost three of them today.”

The explosion was reported about 7:30 a.m. at the Biscailuz Training Facility, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Nicole Nishida said. It was not immediately known what caused the explosion or what the deputies were doing at the time.

Luna said it took more than four hours to render the scene safe and the deaths are being investigated by the department’s homicide detectives, who are being assisted by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. No one else was injured in the explosion, he said.

An early line of investigation was looking at a possible training accident, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the explosion “appears to be a horrific incident” and federal agents are at the scene to learn more.

“Please pray for the families of the sheriff’s deputies killed,” Bondi wrote.

Altogether, the three deputies had served in the department for 74 years, Luna said. He said the deaths marked the department’s worst loss of life in a single incident since 1857 and noted that he couldn’t release the deputies’ names because he had yet to speak to one of the families.

“I have met with two of three families thus far. Those were extremely challenging conversations,” Luna said, his voice breaking.

Arson investigators from the Los Angeles Fire Department and members of the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad were also assisting the investigation at the training facility, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said he’s been briefed and that the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation. He later posted on X that members of the State Fire Marshal were helping with the investigation at the request of the ATF.

Aerial footage from KABC-TV shows the explosion happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks. Three covered bodies could be seen near a truck with a ramp attached to a side door. A sheriff’s patrol cruiser parked nearby had its rearview mirror shattered by the blast.