Today is a big day for the crypto industry in Washington.
Trump is getting directly involved in the fight for clarity, meeting with senators to help the act get over the finish line.
The discussions could center around ethics and also preventing senior government officials like Trump from having direct business interests in crypto.
This is now the primary sticking point that is holding up legislation.
And with Republican Mitch McConnell hospitalized, White House advisers need to reconcile ethics concerns with at least 8 Democratic senators to reach the 60 vote requirement.
Well joining me this morning ahead of the opening bell here on Wall Street is Kristen Smith, president of the a lot of Policy Institute.
Kristen, good morning.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Well, Trump and White House advisers meeting with senators today, and there's also a House Financial Services Committee field hearing exploring the act taking place right here in New York City tomorrow.
But where does this bill stand as we go up against this August 7th summer recess deadline?
Uh, well, good morning, Remy.
It's great to be back.
And we've been talking about the Clarity Act for a very long time, and we are now in, uh, I guess the final inning, if you want to use a sports analogy, where this is the moment, uh, where this bill is either gonna move forward and become law, uh, or get punted to a later Congress.
So, um, you're absolutely right.
There's a big meeting, uh, scheduled this afternoon at the White House.
Senators Moreno and Lemas are reported to attend that meeting, and they're going to talk to the president about the ethics provision that needs to be added to the bill in order to get the votes to move forward.
So eagerly awaiting reports on how that meeting goes.
But there are also a lot of conversations happening behind the scenes between Democratic senators and Republican senators to try to put the final tweaks on the language that will.
Go to the House floor.
I think the good news is that Majority Leader John Thune, he's the one who sets the Senate floor schedule.
He has said he is committed to getting a vote on this legislation prior to the August recess.
And so I think all of the pieces are there.
They just need to come in at the right order and the right time.
But there are a lot of people on the ground here in Washington working on this, and, and I'm, I'm very optimistic that this is our moment to get this done. and Kristen, we are all counting down to that August recess deadline, but hard to believe the Genius Act is turning one year old on Saturday, and regulators and institutions are still in the process of implementing it.
So take us through what effect it has had on stablecoin so far and what do you expect will happen for the industry if clarity passes.
Yes, I think, you know, Genius Act provided a regulatory framework for stablecoins, and yes, some of the rules that will implement that bill are still underway, but we have the broad parameters of what it's going to look like.
And when you have that kind of clarity, you know what is required, what is allowed, what is not allowed.
It's incredibly powerful for the marketplace because businesses.
Are able to make decisions about integrating the technology into their businesses.
So we see, um, you know, some of the financial heavyweights like Western Union, PayPal, all of them are building on Solana, and it, you know, it took the genius act for them to start doing this at scale.
You know, Solana is, um, you know, it's the fastest, most used blockchain in the world.
Uh, it's moved over 4 trillion. dollars in stablecoin transactions so far this year, um, you know, with more than 9 million individual transfers per day.
So this is a technology that is really starting to take off at scale, um, but you have to have the, the guiding rules of the road so that people feel comfortable making the investment.
They have the certainty that they need, and I think, you know, what we've.
Seen with genius, um, and all of the activity that has happened as a result of the Genius Act, I think clarity will do that for the, the rest of the, uh, you know, sort of on-chain world and on-chain economy.
So I think it's a, it's a huge opportunity.
I think these bills are foundationally important to progress, um, and, uh, you know, it's one of the reasons why we're so eager to see clarity get across the finish line.
And Kristen, while I have you here, I do want to get your perspective on what's happening with the regulatory landscape around the globe.
Uh, China has been anti-crypto for years, but whenever Trump brings up crypto, he seems to mention a race with China.
And we've also seen Japan go full steam ahead this week on crypto, classifying tokens as financial assets and approving Bitcoin ETFs.
So take us through this global race to lead on crypto.
Yeah, well, I think, you know, it's an interesting thing with technology, right?
It is not something that, uh, you know, one country can stop from happening.
You know, there's there's a world out there.
There are a lot of different governments, a lot of different regulatory environments, and, you know, the, the what we see going on with Japan, like they're not waiting for the US.
And I think if the US doesn't put these foundational rules in place that Allow for the technology to flourish.
Other countries will, and then we're going to be behind.
I mean, I think for a long time, the US has been number one in tech.
It's been number one in finance.
I think we want to keep it that way.
Um, and in order to do so, we need to make sure that we can modernize our markets and the way that we trade and issue assets.
And so, I think there's a real opportunity here.
I think Donald Trump was talking about, uh, late last week getting the Clarity Act done, uh, and cited the need to get ahead of China.
And so I think this is a message that really does resonate with both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill, um, and is one of the reasons why, um, you know, Congress and the White House is so eager to get this done.
And Kristen, finally, before I let you go, less than 60 seconds here, but Solana is seeing record on chain adoptions.
So take us through the activity we're seeing.
Yeah, well, listen, Salana is a place where you can issue and trade any kind of asset, and we're seeing, um, exponential growth in real world assets, particularly securities that are starting to come on chain, um, and so it's, uh, it's a very exciting time.
For Solana, I think that, you know, again, these bills will allow that to take off, but, you know, folks are starting to do trial projects.
They're starting to do, you know, smaller things to kind of experiment in this space.
But I think once we have the actual rules, you know, this is going to take off even more.
Well, Kristen, always wonderful to talk to you.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning and thank you so much for weighing in.
Thanks for having me, Remy.
