US Senator Elizabeth Warren has slammed the Trump administration and the recently passed crypto bill focusing on stablecoin regulation, arguing that the American people will pay the price for “industry-designed” legislation.
US Lawmakers Must Get Legislation Right
In a Vanity Fair interview, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump a week ago during the House of Representatives’ “Crypto Week.”
Introduced in February by Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, the GENIUS Act establishes a framework that will allow stablecoins to fall under the Federal Reserve Rules, creating a “safe and pro-growth” regulatory structure to advance the US digital assets industry.
When asked about the number of Democrats who supported the bill, Warren explained that “there’s been a long, bipartisan tradition of helping out industry instead of doing what the American people have called for: unrigging the economy and making life more affordable.”
The crypto-skeptic senator affirmed that she agrees that strong digital assets legislation is needed, but that pushing what she deems “industry-designed” bills is a mistake. “If we’re going to ratify a sweeping crypto regulatory framework, we need to get it right,” she argued.
According to the senator, the industry’s “influence” in Washington was expected, as it is a city where “money talks.” As reported by Bitcoinist, Super Political Action Committees (PACs) have spent hundreds of millions over the past few years.
A recent report revealed that Fairshake, the largest Super PAC, and its affiliates invested around $136 million in supporting nearly 60 pro-crypto candidates during the 2024 election cycle, and “are well-prepared for the 2026 midterms, boasting over $100 million in resources.”
Warren asserted that the sectors’ spending on lobbying has “blown through anything that Washington has seen before,” which resulted in the digital assets industry writing “its own legislation.”
Warren compared the GENIUS Act to the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, affirming that when Washington works for industries, only a handful of people get rich, while the American people “pay the price.”
We’ve seen that movie before, when the industry writes its own legislation. (…) When the derivatives industry (…) came to Washington and said, ‘Here’s a bill, please regulate us,’ and handed the legislators a bill that weakly regulated the industry and gave it the appearance of the US government’s backing. The consequence was the crash of 2008 that cost 10 million American families their homes and more their jobs and their savings.
Sen. Warren Slams Trump’s Crypto Pivot
Warren also reaffirmed her stance on the Trump administration’s shift to pro-industry legislation to allegedly benefit himself. To the Democratic senator, the US President is “using the presidency to enrich himself through crypto, and he’s doing it in plain sight.”
Previously, she raised concerns about President Trump’s crypto ventures, arguing that they could pave the way for potential “crypto corruption.” In May, the lawmaker urged Congress to reject the GENIUS Act despite bipartisan efforts to amend the legislation to address the concerns of Senate Democrats.
During the interview, Warren also criticized the US President for appointing industry insiders to “run crypto policy,” disbanding the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) enforcement unit, and asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pivot from its “regulation by enforcement” approach from the previous administration.
“People who voted for Trump sent him to the White House because he promised lower costs on day one—not to turn the White House into a crypto cash machine,” she concluded.
Despite the senator’s concerns, some industry players consider that the regulatory shift and the GENIUS Act will be positive for the American digital assets industry. MARA Holdings CEO, Fred Thiel, recently stated that the recently passed legislation shows the US is taking a leadership position globally, and it will be “very helpful for providing trust” to the sector while allowing the market to “move much freer.”
