I am nothing if not “harsh, but fair” so let me steelman GENIUS Act after trashing it last week. Similar to my criticisms, I’ll hone in on some unremarked benefits. But first, we have to go back in time to how private currency is regulated in the United States historically. The Constitution forbade states from issuing their own bills of credit, etc. But states got around that by issuing state banking charters and letting the banks issue the money. Some cities, like New Orleans, also issued money. Eventually, the federal government wanted more control and passed a prohibitive tax on state-chartered banks issuing banknotes, meaning in practice only federally chartered banks could do it. Then the Federal Reserve was born, and even federal banknotes disappeared. (Technically federal banks can still print banknotes, but the statutes authorizing what backing is allowed were repealed, making it impossible) But whenever there is a shortage of cash, private currencies crop up. This is exactly why @tether succeeded - they created private dollars where there was a shortage of dollars. In the US, you’d think there couldn’t be a shortage of dollars, and you’d be right. But there can be a shortage of small bills and change. So time and again private small denominations cropped up (called “shinplasters” pejoratively). States have regulated away or stamped out private scrip beginning even before the Civil War. For example, an 1854 law in my home state makes it a crime to circulate a substitute for money ($50 fine) or to accept a substitute for money ($5 fine) - “unless the same be expressly allowed by law”. $50 fine doesn’t seem like much, but an illegal instrument is unenforceable, so your scrip or stablecoin becomes pretty useless unless you really, really trust the issuer to redeem it. My state is no exception. Dormant statutes aimed fractional currency and suppressing private notes are all around the country, but overridden by GENIUS, saving some lobbying efforts to clean up old statutes