WASHINGTON - Following passage of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, or the GENIUS Act, in the Senate, Virginia Canter, chief counsel for ethics and anticorruption at Democracy Defenders Action issued the following statement:

“Today, the Senate rubber-stamped Trump’s crypto corruption. It is shameful that senators passed the GENIUS Act without ethics safeguards —protections that would have required divestment, preserved the integrity of our regulatory processes, and blocked Trump from peddling his stablecoin to foreign governments and special interests hoping to obtain influence. With the bill now steps away from his desk, President Trump is poised to regulate a financial product that has already helped him rake in more than $55 million, supercharging corruption, and threatening the strength of our democracy.”

In late April, Democracy Defenders Fund released a report exposing how Donald Trump’s entanglements with the cryptocurrency industry could pose serious risks to democratic institutions and public trust.

Democracy Defenders Action brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state, and local allies across the country committed to upholding the rule of law, fighting against autocracy and defending the Constitution.