The White House's AI and Crypto Czar, David Sacks, has said that the Trump administration is optimistic about the GENIUS Act

The White House's AI and Crypto Czar, David Sacks, has said that the Trump administration is optimistic about the GENIUS Act moving through the Senate

The Trump administration is optimistic about the bipartisan support for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which could unlock trillions of dollars in demand for U.S. Treasuries, David Sacks, the White House’s AI and Crypto Czar, has said.

Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, Trump’s Crypto Czar said they were positive about the chances of the legislation advancing as they had “every expectation now that it’s going to pass.”

Sacks’s remarks come after the administration expressed positivity over the House’s vote to approve a bill that would create a new agency to monitor the Chinese government’s activities.

The GENIUS Act, sponsored by Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, failed to pass the cloture motion last month after it failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance to an open floor debate.

The bill, which would create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, faced a second cloture motion earlier this week as part of a broader effort to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.

However, the legislation encountered difficulties after several lawmakers, including two Republican senators, withdrew their support ahead of the vote, leading to its failure to pass on Monday.

After an unsuccessful procedural vote two weeks ago, the stablecoin legislation passed the Monday cloture motion with "significant bipartisan support" to start a crucial stage of the bill.

The legislation, which had been stalled, received a surge in momentum last week as bipartisan efforts focused on reviving the bill ahead of the Memorial Day recess.

On Monday, the procedure saw 15 Democratic senators vote for the amended bill, leading to a total of 66 favorable votes.

As the cloture motion passed, the next stage will involve voting on whether to proceed to formal debate on the GENIUS Act.

"Stablecoins offer a new, more efficient, cheaper, smoother payment system—new payment rails for the U.S. economy, which bodes well for the chances of this bill passing the next stages of legislation," Sacks told CNBC.

"It also extends the dominance of the dollar online."

Sacks added that the sector already has about $200 billion in stablecoins despite there being no regulation yet, which could suggest that billions more could be generated with clear codes.

"If we provide the legal clarity and legal framework for this, I think we could create trillions of dollars of demand for our Treasuries practically overnight, very quickly."

The GENIUS Act went through various amendments to address Democratic senators' concerns, including stricter requirements for stablecoin issuers and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) provisions.

However, ten senators, including four Democrats who previously supported the bill, criticized the first revised version of the legislation, suggesting the draft omitted essential AML and national security safeguards and had ambiguous regulations that could expose crypto markets to exploitation.

Similarly, Senator Elizabeth Warren expressed concerns about the president’s crypto ventures and urged Congress to reject the stablecoin bill, claiming it could pave the way for alleged "crypto corruption."

Despite undergoing more amendments last week, Democrats released an analysis about the legislation’s new version, alleging that "many of the new changes are fig leaves for significant flaws that jeopardize consumer protection and national security" and that the "current draft paves the way for more Trump crypto corruption."

While answering a question about the concern from Senate Democrats regarding the bill’s safeguards to prevent the presidential family from profiting from the stablecoin legislation, the White House Crypto Czar didn't provide a comment.

Lawmakers are expected to continue working on crypto ethics provisions and AML language changes during this process.

As CNBC noted, Republican Senator Roger Marshall filed to add a "poison pill" amendment that would set price controls on credit card interchange fees and mandate that banks support multiple network options for processing transactions.

However, the potential amendment has faced backlash as Senator Thom Tillis has threatened to withdraw his support for the GENIUS Act if the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) is attached to the stablecoin legislation.