U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just compared a law that President Donald Trump signed into law last year to former President Abraham Lincoln’s National Currency Act of 1863. The Trump-
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just compared a law that President Donald Trump signed into law last year to former President Abraham Lincoln’s National Currency Act of 1863.
The Trump-era law Bessent referred to is the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act that the president signed it in July 2025.
GENIUS Act (2:39)A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that tries to stabilize its value by getting pegged 1:1 to a so-called stable asset like the U.S. dollar. In short, a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin is a digital dollar existing on a blockchain network.
The GENIUS Act requires stablecoin issuers to maintain 100% reserve backing using liquid assets, such as short-term U.S. Treasuries.
In an X post on Oct. 21, Bessent said the law further cements the U.S. as "the crypto capital of the world."
Related: Explained: What is a stablecoin?
The National Currency Act is a landmark law that Lincoln signed in 1863, establishing a national banking system at the federal level and helping standardize the national fiat currency in the U.S.
Prior to the law, thousands of banks issued their own unique paper banknotes. Their values varied wildly and counterfeits were common.
The National Currency Act addressed these problems by creating a nationally chartered banking system that issued a uniform form of paper currency and establishing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to charter and supervise national banks.
The legislation was substantially revised in 1864 and became known as the National Bank Act.
A visitor photographs the giant concrete bust of former U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln at The Presidents Heads on June 27, 2026 in Williamsburg, Virginia.Getty Images
Bessent invoked the historical precedent to pitch the digital future of the U.S. dollar.
During a House Committee testimony in February this year, he even argued that stablecoins could be “an important feature of financing the U.S. government.” What he implied is that a surge in stablecoin adoption directly translates into higher demand for U.S. government debt.
The Trump administration looks at the GENIUS law as a means of cementing the dollar's global reserve status and countering the de-dollarization drive undertaken by countries like China.
Bessent made the remark as the OCC published its final rule regarding the implementation of the GENIUS Act on Oct. 21.
The rule covers both banking and non-banking issuers of stablecoins, both domestic and foreign, as per the bulletin.
It covers stablecoin reserves, custody, redemption, risk management, audits and reporting. Anti-money laundering and sanction rules will be published later.
Though the GENIUS Act bans issuers from paying yield to users on simply holding stablecoins, it doesn't address crypto exchanges and other third parties that offer the yields.
The banking industry has argued these yields are simply interest on digital dollars and stablecoin issuers are acting like banks without going through the rigorous channel.
Even the OCC's rule doesn't address yields offered by third parties and favors a case-by-case review.
Both the OCC's final rule and the GENIUS Act take effect on Jan. 18, 2027.
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