U.S. President Donald Trump sits next to Crypto czar David Sacks at the White House Crypto Summit at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 7, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Donald Trump‘s top crypto and AI advisor David Sacks said Wednesday that the administration expects the stablecoin legislation moving through the Senate to pass with “significant bipartisan support,” and claimed it could unlock demand for U.S. Treasuries.
“We already have over $200 billion in stablecoins — it’s just unregulated,” Sacks told CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime.” “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 — a bill to regulate stablecoins — cleared a key procedural vote in the Senate. With 15 Democrats voting for the bill to pass the cloture threshold this week, the proponents have the votes necessary to avoid a filibuster.
“We have every expectation now that it’s going to pass,” added Sacks, though he didn’t answer a question about concerns from Democrats that there aren’t sufficient safeguards in place to keep the president and his family from profiting from legislation.
Democrats previously rejected the GENIUS Act in part on concern that President Trump’s personal cryptocurrency ventures, including his own meme coin and a stablecoin from his family’s crypto business, created an unprecedented conflict of interest.
Unlike digital assets such as bitcoin, which can trade wildly, stablecoins are a subset of cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to that of a real-world asset, like the U.S. dollar. Bitcoin hit a new record on Wednesday, nearing $110,000.
Tether, which is banked by Cantor Fitzgerald in the U.S., controls more than 60% of the stablecoin market. Deutsche Bank found that stablecoin transactions hit $28 trillion last year, surpassing that of Mastercard and Visa, combined.
Sacks, who has emerged as a powerful policy voice inside Trump’s inner circle, framed the GENIUS Act not just as a crypto breakthrough but as a national economic strategy.
“Stablecoins offer a new, more efficient, cheaper, smoother payment system — new payment rails for the U.S. economy,” he said. “It also extends the dominance of the dollar online.”
The White House has aggressively backed the effort, even as concerns mount over the president’s potential conflicts.
While Sacks sold $200 million in crypto-related holdings before taking his White House job according to a disclosure filing, Trump and his family have been leaning into building a crypto empire.
The Trumps are financial backers of World Liberty Financial, which just launched its own stablecoin — USD1 — backed by Treasuries and dollar deposits.
Abu Dhabi’s MGX investment fund recently pledged $2 billion in USD1 to Binance, the world’s largest digital assets exchange. It’s the company’s largest-ever investment made in crypto.
Still, the path to passage isn’t entirely smooth. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., added a controversial rider to the bill that would cap credit card late fees — what’s seen as a poison pill that could alienate banking allies and stall final approval.
WATCH: Trump’s growing crypto empire raising conflict of interest concerns
