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- Day 1 to Dollar Dominance
BLUF*
GENIUS shifts global and institutional power.
Despite the doomers & boomers caterwauling on crypto, Congress came together to pass GENIUS, the most important legislation since Dodd-Frank—unlocking a $10 trillion digital currency market and giving 3 billion people access to digital dollar freedom. Win? 1000%.
*Bottom Line Up Front
Good morning,
Last weekend in a windowless room with "air conditioning" that nearly, violated the Geneva Convention, I watched a Republican and Democrat staffer, bang out the American future of finance. And then, GENIUS passed.
Every tinpot dictator with a printing press realized their citizens just got a backdoor to the dollar. Elizabeth Warren's anti-DeFi crusaders got so wrecked, even more Democrats abandoned their ranks. JPMorgan realizes they've been playing checkers, while DeFi-natives were patiently, playing chess.
Here's what really happened—and who might win, and who should be terrified.
Next time,
Austin Campbell
Teaching Blockchain & DeFi at NYU
Talking to institutions at Zero Knowledge
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Congressional Chaos
OPERATION: GENIUS ACT
Crypto legislation enters hostile territory. Flanked by Alex Jones-level factless cranks and falsely intentioned hype merchants, ~20 moderate legislators maintain sanity in the middle.
Senior staffers from opposing factions locked in marathon negotiations. Air conditioning: bad. Mission: bipartisan breakthrough.
Officials burn countless hours on market structure analysis. Objective inquiries: exploitation vectors and systemic risk. Someone pulls up one of my tweets.
Bitcoin-maxis mad about centralized controls. Banks hate competition on deposits. Nobody's 100% happy but 🤷♂️
GOOD LEGISLATION:
Nobody's 100% happy
Anti-DeFi Army
USD: Economic Escape Hatch
Policymakers don't understand: Every person on Earth with internet access becomes a potential node in the US financial system.
Requirements for USD stablecoin access:
- Internet connection
- Something of value
That's it. At Paxos, I saw the only country where citizens couldn't access USD stablecoins? North Korea.
Think about the geopolitical implications: When authoritarian regimes impose capital controls, when they weaponize their currencies, when they inflate away citizens' savings—now they have a USD escape hatch. Not theoretical. Operational.
America's largest soft power expansion in 50 years. We just made dollar dominance both legal and unstoppable.
Key Takeaways
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GENIUS SHIFTS POWER.
Future of finance is at its starting point.
Every corrupt government lost their currency monopoly. Payment companies to put their products on chains. Banks to compete on deposits, or die. And the anti-crypto coalition got demolished so badly they'll be finding pieces for years.
For you? If you're at a financial institution, hire DeFi natives or fade into irrelevance. If you're an investor, watch who moves first—they'll own the next decade. If you're anyone else in the space, you got options you didn't have last week.
ZERO INSIDER
AUSTIN
Mainly, I'm recovering from the final push on GENIUS. I'm watching to see which TradFi players can get their act together first. Maybe the first time crypto starts impacting public equity markets. Eventually it'll bleed into bank, asset manager, and payment company valuations. After that, it's right back in the saddle—the great game has begun.
DAVID
I've been covering the Roman Storm trial (Tornado Cash developer), where the government's sloppy case has already opened the door for a potential mistrial.
1 To read our long-form on GENIUS passing, click through to Zero Insights.
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