Bitcoiners Should Care About The GENIUS Act
While the GENIUS Act is a stablecoin bill, U.S.-based Bitcoin enthusiasts should be paying attention to the language in the bill as it pertains to the ability to transact privately with crypto assets — including bitcoin.
Two documents that recently circulated among Senate Banking Committee Democrats indicate that Senate Democrats want to see amendments made to the GENIUS Act that would greatly reduce user privacy in crypto transactions.
Senate Democrats’ Analysis of GENIUS Act
The first of these two documents is a two-pager entitled “Banking Committee Democratic Staff Analysis on Latest GENIUS Act Draft”.
This document is filled with the type of rhetoric that is commonly associated with the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
It refers to stablecoins as tools for illicit finance (despite the fact that the largest stablecoin issuer, Tether, often works with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the FBI to stop the illegal use of stablecoins).
It also states that the current iteration of the GENIUS Act “does nothing to actually impose basic obligations on [crypto mixers] to prevent illicit finance.”
This latter critique of the bill is antithetical to guidance that Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Todd Blanche offered in a memo on April 7, 2025. DAG Blanche stated that the DoJ will no longer target crypto mixing services for the acts of their end users.
In this document, however, Senate Democrats indicate that they plan to continue targeting crypto mixing technology instead of those who abuse it.
If amendments regarding the targeting of crypto mixers are added to a revised version of the GENIUS Act, this could have an impact on Bitcoin users who employ such technology in the name of preserving their privacy.
A Letter From Democrats Opposing The GENIUS Act
Senate Banking Democrats circulated a second document on Monday, as well.
This document, a letter signed by 46 advocacy groups, opposed the GENIUS Act.
Brendan Pedersen of Punchbowl News shared segments of the letter on X.
The authors of the letter claim that the GENIUS Act does not do enough to prevent illicit finance in part because it still allows for “self-hosted wallets that lack know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.”
If the GENIUS Act is amended so that it requires KYC for all wallets that touch stablecoins — self-custodial wallets included — it’s likely only a matter of time before similar regulation is established for Bitcoin wallets.
Bitcoin Transactional Privacy Is At Stake
Just because the GENIUS Act doesn’t directly reference Bitcoin doesn’t mean that Bitcoin won’t be affected by it.
If Senate Democrats get their way and crypto mixers become a target of the bill and/or if the bill requires that all wallets that touch stablecoins require users to KYC, and the bill is enacted into law, anonymity in crypto transactions will become a crime.
So, while some Bitcoiners may be anti-stablecoins, most, I would wager, aren’t anti-privacy. Therefore, it would behoove them to contact their elected officials to urge them to vote “no” for the GENIUS Act if the upcoming iteration of the bill restricts the ability to transact privately.
