Stablecoins are finally reaching product market fit in the West. While stablecoins have found considerable usage and impact throughout the developing world, the US, UK, and Europe have lagged behind in terms of true market adoption due to unclear regulations and the strength of the existing digital payments infrastructure, especially in Europe and the UK.

Now, though, in 2025, Congress enacted the GENIUS Act in July, and Stripe and Paradigm introduced Tempo, a payments-focused chain, in early September.

The new law installs the first federal license regime for dollar-pegged tokens, and Stripe’s partner Paradigm describes Tempo as a stablecoin-first network designed for payroll, remittances, marketplace payouts, and machine-to-machine use cases.

Per Latham & Watkins and WilmerHale briefings, GENIUS forces full-reserve backing in cash and short-dated Treasuries, monthly reserve disclosures, and makes licensed payment stablecoins non-securities under federal law, while vesting oversight in bank regulators and the OCC for nonbanks.

The statute bars issuers from paying interest to holders, yet the market is testing a “rewards” construct at distribution venues, creating a policy fault line flagged by WIRED and banking trade groups like the Bank Policy Institute and ABA Banking Journal. There is a superpriority for holders

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Author: Liam ‘Akiba’ Wright