Anchorage Nathan McCauley says GENIUS moves two of the top three stablecoins onshore

Only about one year after the GENIUS Act was signed into effect on July 18, 2025, the market circulation of stablecoins regulated by it has increased to approximately US$314 billion to US$323 billion, and offshore issuers have also begun to migrate into the United States.

Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, as a federally chartered bank that issues large quantities of onshore stablecoins, participated in discussions to build a review framework for the law. Anchorage Digital was the first cryptocurrency company to obtain a national trust license from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and is now the first federally chartered bank to issue stablecoins under the direct supervision of the OCC. McCauley believes the bill provides what the industry needs most: legitimacy.

What's right about the GENIUS Act-its legitimacy throughout

McCauley believes that credibility is the biggest impact the GENIUS Act has had since it became law. "The fundamental right thing about the bill is to legalize the entire industry," he said."Now there is written federal law that clarifies the rules for stablecoins and the rules for reserves." These rules include holding 1:1 reserves in short-term Treasury bonds or U.S. dollars, accepting audits, and obtaining licenses from federal and local governments.

As regulated products, stablecoins also help shift the public's overall perception of the cryptocurrency field from memes and speculative trading to serious financial infrastructure and products. "If stablecoins are legal, then blockchain is legal. You can infer that applications built on top of these blockchains are also legitimate. The entire technology stack we've been building over the past decade has been proven in many ways,"McCauley explained.

stablecoins have surpassed any other cryptocurrency product in mainstream applications. In 2025, stablecoins settled approximately US$33 trillion, exceeding the combined US$25 trillion of Visa and Mastercard. A Fireblocks survey found that nearly 50% of companies surveyed already use stablecoins in various payments.

What businesses actually move into the United States?

The three largest issuers of stablecoins in the world are Tether, Circle and Sky (formerly MakerDAO). Circle is the only U.S. company to issue USDC. Prior to the GENIUS Act, Circle faced multiple investigations from the Securities and Exchange Commission; today, the threat of legal action has been minimized. Tether is officially registered in El Salvador and launched USAT in January 2026, specifically designed to comply with the GENIUS Act framework, with Anchorage as the regulated issuer. "We see two of the top three participants in the stablecoin ecosystem choosing to relocate within the United States. Tether decided to launch USAT in the United States, and we are a regulated issuer of USAT,"McCauley said. Ethena-a smaller but equally important player in the stablecoin space-has also chosen Anchorage as the issuer of its GENIUS Act-compliant stablecoin USDtb. "The stablecoin, which was previously issued under offshore supervision, has now moved to the United States and is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank," McCauley said.

What happens next?

McCauley believes that in the near future, more stablecoins that comply with the GENIUS Act will appear on the market. However, these stablecoins will no longer just come from native cryptocurrency companies, and large banks will also begin to participate. "Western Union decided to issue a stablecoin. Today many different banking unions-at least four that I know of-are seeking to build stablecoins and make them compliant with the requirements of the GENIUS Act,"he said.

In its first year of entry into force, the GENIUS Act transformed stablecoins from a legal gray area into bank-grade products. The market size exceeded US$300 billion, the leading issuer entered the U.S. regulatory framework, and Wall Street also began to issue its own stablecoins.