The recent GENIUS stablecoin bill is merely a thinly veiled attempt to usher in central bank digital currency (CBDC) controls through privatized means, according to Jean Rausis, co-founder of the Smardex decentralized trading platform.

In a statement shared with Cointelegraph, Rausis said that the US government will punish stablecoin issuers that do not comply with the new regulatory framework, similar to the European Union Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. The executive added:

“The government realizes that if they control stablecoins, they control financial transactions. Working with centralized stablecoin issuers means they can freeze funds anytime they want — essentially what a CBDC would allow. So, why bother creating a CBDC?”

“With stablecoins under the government’s control, the result is the same, with the false veneer of decentralization added as a bonus,” the executive continued.

Decentralized alternatives to centralized stablecoins, such as algorithmic stablecoins and synthetic dollars, will prove to be a valuable bulwark against this creeping government control over crypto, Rausis concluded.

Related: America must back pro-stablecoin laws, reject CBDCs — US Rep. Emmer

Revamped GENIUS bill to include stricter provisions

The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, introduced by Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty on Feb. 4, proposed a comprehensive framework for overcollateralized stablecoins such as Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC).

The bill was revamped to include stricter Anti-Money Laundering, reserve requirements, liquidity provisions and sanctions checks on March 13.

These additional provisions will presumably give US-based stablecoin issuers an edge over their offshore counterparts.

During the recent White House Crypto Summit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would use stablecoins to ensure US dollar hegemony in payments and protect its role as the global reserve currency.

Centralized stablecoin issuers rely on US bank deposits and short-term cash equivalents such as US Treasury bills to back their digital fiat tokens, which drives up demand for the US dollar and US debt instruments.

Stablecoin issuers collectively hold over $120 billion in US debt — making them the 18th-largest buyer of US government debt in the world.

Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins

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Hyperliquid reported a $4 million loss in its Liquidity Provider (HLP) vaults within 24 hours. According to a March 12 post on X, the loss followed a major liquidation event involving a high-risk trader. Following the news, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token responded negatively to the event, dropping over 3% in the past 24 hours. The token […]

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Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization company Securitize has selected RedStone as the primary oracle provider for its tokenized products, which include BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) and the Apollo Diversified Credit Securitize Fund (ACRED).

According to a March 12 announcement, RedStone will deliver price feeds for current and future tokenized products offered by Securitize. As a DeFi-focused oracle provider, RedStone will purportedly expand the use cases of BUIDL and ACRED into money market exchanges and collateralized DeFi platforms, Securitize said.

RedStone provides crosschain data feeds for decentralized finance protocols on Ethereum, Avalanche and Polygon. According to DefiLlama data, it has amassed $4.3 billion in total value secured across all clients. 

In July, RedStone raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Arrington Capital, with additional participation from Spartan, IOSG Ventures, HTX Ventures and others. 

Securitize selected RedStone as its oracle provider because of its “modular design,” which means it “can scale to thousands of chains and support new implementations in a matter of days,” RedStone chief operating officer Marcin Kazmierczak told Cointelegraph in a written statement.

By using the RedStone oracle price feeds, Securitize’s funds “can now be utilized across DeFi protocols such as Morpho, Compound or Spark,” he said.

Related: BlackRock CEO wants SEC to ‘rapidly approve’ tokenization of bonds, stocks: What it means for crypto

Institutional interest in tokenized assets on the rise

Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo told Cointelegraph that demand for tokenized funds is growing across a “diverse range of investors and users” spanning traditional finance and crypto-native firms.

“Institutional investors, private equity firms, and credit managers are turning to tokenization to enhance efficiency, reduce operational friction, and improve liquidity for private markets,” he said.

On the crypto-native side, companies “see tokenized RWAs as a secure and efficient way to manage treasury reserves while benefiting from stable yields,” said Domingo.

So far, the tokenization of private credit and US Treasury bonds have seen the largest uptake, according to industry data. The total market for onchain RWAs is approaching $18 billion, having grown by 16.8% over the past 30 days, according to RWA.xyz. 

Separate data from Security Token Market showed that more than $50 billion worth of assets were tokenized by the end of 2024, with the majority coming from real estate. 

The tokenization market has attracted significant players in recent years, with the likes of Ondo Finance, Tradable and Brickken entering the fray. 

Related: Trump-era policies may fuel tokenized real-world assets surge

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The post Google’s Gemma 3 makes home AI a reality with new open-source model appeared first on CryptoSlate.

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