Signing the GENIUS Act: writing the rules for a market the family profits in

Editor's note: reporting documents that the family's stablecoin business earns on its reserves under the law he signed, but no official record establishes the value to his family.

On July 18, 2025, Trump signed the GENIUS Act - the first US federal law for stablecoins - creating the regulatory framework in which his family's USD1 competes. He joked at the East Room signing, 'The GENIUS Act. They named it after me,' surrounded by crypto executives; crypto czar David Sacks said Trump 'stepped in and saved this bill.'

The conflict was raised but never put to a vote. During Senate consideration, an amendment aimed at barring the president and his family from profiting from stablecoins was filed but received no floor vote; the final law contains no such provision. Rep. Maxine Waters and others flagged World Liberty's USD1 and foreign-issuer concerns on the House floor. The law routes primary stablecoin oversight to the OCC - the same agency then weighing WLF's bank-charter application (CRY-19) - even as the administration moved to weaken regulator independence.

Because issuers earn on reserves, and USD1 sat on $2 billion-plus (CRY-05), the president signed a law shaping the earnings of a product his family owns. New York AG Letitia James and other prosecutors separately warned the act lets issuers keep and profit from the proceeds of fraud, lacking any provision to return stolen funds to victims.