The GENIUS Act: Why Aptos Wins in America's Stablecoin Framework
The Senate passed the GENIUS Act with a 68-30 vote on June 17 and became official legislation on July 18—marking the largest legislative victory for the digital asset industry since its inception, and Aptos was built for this moment. With a token standard that enables regulated institutions to meet their compliance obligations, institutional-grade performance, and a battle-tested network that holds the records for both TPS and transactions executed within a single day on any Layer-1 blockchain, Aptos is operating directly at the forefront of stablecoin adoption.
What is the GENIUS Act?
The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS) Act is legislation that establishes the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins in the United States. Sponsored by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and co-sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Senators Lummis (R-WY), Sullivan (R-AK), Moreno (R-OH), and Ricketts (R-NE) the bill passed both chambers of Congress with strong bipartisan support.
TLDR: the Act defines a "payment stablecoin" as a digital asset designed to be used as a means of payment or settlement, where the issuer is obligated to convert, redeem, or repurchase the stablecoin for a fixed amount of monetary value and that maintains a stable value relative to that fixed amount.
Core Provisions of the GENIUS Act
The GENIUS Act creates a strict but clear framework for stablecoins—meaning only certain subsidiaries of banks or other approved entities can issue them.
The Act also requires that every stablecoin must be backed at least 1:1 with US dollars or Treasury bills, notes, or bonds, and selected other liquid financial instruments. It also requires that stablecoin issuers establish procedures for the redemption of stablecoins, disclose all fees, publish monthly reports of their reserves, and annual audited financial statements for big (>$50 billion) issuers, while stablecoin holders get first priority if a stablecoin issuer goes bankrupt. Federal banking regulators will oversee large stablecoin issuers with banking-style safety standards and quarterly check-ups, while states can only regulate smaller stablecoin issuers.
What’s more, like other financial institutions, all stablecoin issuers must implement an effective anti-money laundering program, perform KYC, report suspicious activity, follow sanctions laws, and act to freeze coins when courts order it.
Technical Superiority Meets Regulatory Compliance
The GENIUS Act requires stablecoin issuers to demonstrate technical prowess to comply with lawful orders—including the ability to freeze, block, or burn stablecoins—and Aptos' Fungible Asset Standard was designed with these capabilities from day one.
Aptos boasts performance built to scale with regulation, with institutional-grade infrastructure that achieves:
160,000+ TPS theoretical throughput for institutional transaction volumes
Sub-second finality for real-time compliance and settlement
Parallel execution enabling complex DeFi operations at scale
Deterministic gas pricing for predictable institutional operations
With a purpose-built token standard, Aptos is primed to support the Act with freeze/burn capabilities for regulatory compliance, transfer restrictions for institutional requirements, audit trails for regulatory reporting, and permission controls for sophisticated access management.
The results have already taken effect on the network, with:
$1.4B+ in stablecoin liquidity with native support for USDt, USDC, and USDe
$532M+ in tokenized RWAs from premier institutions
>19K TPS on mainnet and over 326M transactions in a single day
Proven Institutional Adoption
Premier financial institutions have already chosen Aptos, including:
BlackRock: The only BUIDL funds on a non-EVM network
Apollo/Securitize: Select portions of their $1.2B diversified credit fund
Franklin Templeton: Institutional money market fund
PACT Protocol: Tokenized Credit
Yellowcard: Leading African remittance partner
Global Financial Industry Benefits
Cross-Border Payments
Enhanced Remittance Services: The GENIUS Act will expand momentum in cross-border payments and remittances, areas where traditional banking has historically imposed substantial costs.
Emerging Market Opportunity: With stablecoins already used in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, the GENIUS Act's regulatory clarity could accelerate adoption.
Financial Inclusion and Banking the Unbanked
Global Accessibility: With banking rates varying dramatically worldwide, from nearly 0% unbanked in developed countries like Norway and Sweden to over 70% in places like Morocco, stablecoins offer a pathway to financial services without traditional banking infrastructure.
Aptos-Native Financial Services: Regulated stablecoins on Aptos offer a pathway to financial services without traditional banking infrastructure. The network's account abstraction capabilities and user-friendly tooling make financial services accessible to populations that traditional banking has struggled to serve.
Financial System Modernization
Real-Time Payment Infrastructure: The GENIUS Act enables regulated stablecoins to facilitate real-time settlement, and Aptos delivers the performance to make this vision reality. With parallel execution and deterministic gas pricing, Aptos provides more efficient payment infrastructure than traditional rails like ACH, wires, or even FedNow.
Competitive Pressure Benefits: As banks, fintechs, and merchants adopt stablecoin payment options, Aptos' technical superiority and proven ecosystem make it the natural choice for institutions seeking compliant, high-performance blockchain infrastructure.
The Incoming Regulatory Moat
Aptos delivers both performance and regulatory compliance without compromise. The network's use of the Move programming language, Fungible Asset Standard, and parallel execution architecture provides exactly what the GENIUS Act demands, and consumers will rest assured that the GENIUS Act provides regulatory clarity while fostering competition based on product quality and features.
The GENIUS Act represents a transformative milestone in the evolution of digital finance, creating the regulatory foundation for mainstream stablecoin adoption and preserving U.S. financial leadership. For blockchains with deep ties to the U.S. like Aptos, the legislation creates a virtuous cycle of increased utility, regulatory clarity, and competitive positioning that can drive significant growth in network activity and ecosystem development.
Aptos was built for this moment and has the numbers prove it.
Money Moves Better on Aptos.