The Genius Act regulating crypto in the U.S. could have been adopted in May, but Democrats blocked it in the Senate. However, various companies have already prepared several projects associated with stablecoins, and the failure of the bill doesn’t seem to stop them. First, we’ll highlight the upcoming updates in the stablecoin sector, then we’ll address the political battle around stablecoins’ legal framework in the U.S. and the implications of the Genius bill’s defeat in the Senate. Table of Contents Stablecoins could ramp up due to integration with Meta, Visa, Mastercard (De)regulation failure “Dark stablecoins” and Cardano’s privacy stablecoin Stablecoins could ramp up due to integration with Meta, Visa, Mastercard Stablecoins are already the most popular type of cryptocurrency due to their ease of use, stable price, and global reach. Reportedly, in 2025, the circulating supply of stablecoins averages to $521 billion, which is more than Visa with $319 billion and PayPal with $32 billion. Stablecoin traction may get galvanized even further as several tech giants are planning to embed them into their multi-million networks. In 2019, Facebook announced plans to create cryptocurrency Libra/Diem and seamlessly embed it into its ecosystem of over one billion users. However, ambitious plans didn’t come to fruition as Facebook failed to satisfy the demands of skeptical regulators. Based on anonymous sources, Fortune claims that Meta is working on the implementation of crypto transactions within its apps with a multi-billion user base. Allegedly, already existing stablecoins USDC and USDT will facilitate fast and cheap transactions among Meta users across the world. It is not clear when Meta’s plan to implement stablecoin transactions will materialize. However, two debit card giants, Visa and Mastercard, have more articulated plans of exposing billions of their users to stablecoin transactions infrastructure. Visa has been testing stablecoin transactions since 2023 and doesn’t seem to be quitting. As of press time, stablecoin transactions conducted by Visa amount to over $220 million. On May 6, it was revealed that through Visa Ventures’ arm, Visa invested in BVNK, a company working on stablecoin payment infrastructure. On top of that, Visa collaborates with Stripe-owned Bridge to make stablecoin transactions available for Visa clients in several countries, with a focus on Latin America. Cardholders will be able to spend stablecoins at millions of merchant points accepting Visa. Soon, Stripe’s financial app will support Stablecoin Financial Accounts in 101 countries, as announced on May 7. Mastercard partners with multiple cryptocurrency giants to unlock stablecoin transactions for its clients, who will be able to pay with stablecoins in over 150 million merchant locations. The list of partnerships includes OKX, Binance, Gemini, Kraken, Bybit, MetaMask, and many more. (De)regulation failure Elisabeth Warren and other critics of the GENIUS Act push for further opposition to the bill deregulating stablecoins in the U.S. Democrats see it as a sweeping “crypto power grab” that will allow stealth foreign donations in the election. More than that, if the legislation is adopted, it will allow officials to make money via cryptocurrency business. All of these are seen as the gateway for corruption. Democrats demand changes to be made in the bill. They cite anti-money laundering provisions, foreign issuers, financial system soundness, national security, and accountability of law violators as the sections that require improvements. Read more: Senate crypto bill collapses: Is partisan divide or Trump’s digital fortune to blame? “Dark stablecoins” and Cardano’s privacy stablecoin Following the defeat of the Genius Act bill in the Senate, CryptoQuant’s CEO Ki Young Ju took to X to speculate on the possibility of the emergence of “dark stablecoins” in response to increasing governmental control in the stablecoin sector. Dark stablecoins are likely to emerge in the future.#Bitcoin was created by the cypherpunk community to be censorship-resistant and belongs to no one, making it impossible to control. Stablecoins, however, act as a bridge between the internet and the real world, so they need… — Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) May 11, 2025 Ju warns that as stablecoin transactions will trigger tax-collecting smart contracts, and crypto wallets may become frozen due to suspicious activity, users accustomed to the freedom and comfort of unregulated use of stablecoins will seek censorship-resistant stablecoins. Ju outlined two possible types of “dark stablecoins”: algorithmic ones and stablecoins issued by countries that don’t censor stablecoin transactions. Currently, we cannot point out an existing “dark stablecoin,” however, Ju speculates that if Tether decides to disobey regulations, USDT may become one. “I’m not sure if there are still long-term crypto investors out there, but I think dark stablecoin-related assets could have investment potential in the Internet capital markets. DYOR,” concluded he. During the Token2049 event, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that the company is working on a new USD-pegged stablecoin that would comply with the U.S. stablecoin laws and plans to release a new currency in 2025. JUST IN: #Cardano $ADA Founder Charles Hoskinson says "Cardano will probably be one of the first to do a private stablecoin. Maybe people don't want to have a stablecoin where every time they buy something, it's forever tracked by everyone everywhere, and everybody can see it." pic.twitter.com/VjOI80HiZP — Angry Crypto Show (@angrycryptoshow) May 11, 2025 On May 9, during the podcast with eToro, Charles Hoskinson of Cardano shared his plans to launch the first-ever privacy-focused stablecoin on the Cardano blockchain. You might also like: Stablecoins: The gateway to mainstream crypto in 2025 | Opinion