We recently caught up with decentralized finance and blockchain professional, Tory Green, co-founder of io.net, who shared key insights about the GENIUS Act.
While the Senate’s passage of the bill was historic, momentum is now at risk.
House lawmakers are considering whether to merge the bill with the broader CLARITY Act, a move that might delay progress on stablecoin regulation and stall U.S. blockchain leadership.
Green believes the GENIUS Act should pass as is.
He has touched on why Congress must act now to solidify stablecoin regulation and avoid ceding ground to global competitors. He also commented on the real economic impact of regulatory clarity on blockchain innovation and infrastructure.
Additionally, Tory shared his perspective on why time should not be wasted on the merging of the GENIUS and CLARITY acts, instead passing the GENIUS act and then continuing progress for the CLARITY Act.
Our chat with Tory Green is shared below.
Crowdfund Insider: The Senate’s passage of the GENIUS Act was a milestone. What do you see as the most important immediate benefit if the House passes it without changes?
Tory Green: The immediate benefit is certainty. For years, stablecoin issuers and blockchain innovators have operated in a regulatory gray zone, stifling investment and forcing talent offshore.
The GENIUS Act provides clear guardrails for dollar-backed stablecoins—the lifeblood of crypto’s $160B payments ecosystem—without drowning innovators in the broader complexities of the CLARITY Act. Passing it as-is would signal that the U.S. can move swiftly on targeted, high-impact policies. We’ve seen what happens when we delay: just last month, Singapore’s MAS fast-tracked its stablecoin framework, and EU’s MiCA is already luring startups away from U.S. shores.
Crowdfund Insider: You’ve said the GENIUS Act should be passed as is. Why do you believe merging it with the CLARITY Act would hurt momentum, rather than help?
Tory Green: Don’t turn a sprint into a marathon. GENIUS is a scalpel—surgical, targeted, and ready to solve a $160 billion problem. CLARITY is a Swiss Army knife—important, but sprawling and slow. Merge them, and you get gridlock and death by a thousand amendments. In tech, velocity is survival. Japan split its stablecoin rules and saw liquidity triple. We should be learning from winners, not repeating our own bottlenecks.
Crowdfund Insider: For those unfamiliar, how is the GENIUS Act different from the CLARITY Act, and why is that distinction important?
Tory Grreen: Think of GENIUS as a scalpel and CLARITY as a Swiss Army knife. GENIUS narrowly defines how regulated institutions (like banks and fintechs) can issue stablecoins, with strict reserve and redemption rules. CLARITY, meanwhile, attempts to classify all digital assets—NFTs, utility tokens, even DeFi protocols—under one regulatory umbrella.
That’s critical work, but it’s inherently more contentious. By decoupling them, we avoid holding hostage the 97% of stablecoin transactions that power remittances and payroll for millions, while giving CLARITY the debate time it deserves.
Crowdfund Insider: How do you think delays in stablecoin regulation would impact the U.S. position in global blockchain leadership? Are we already seeing signs of the U.S. falling behind?
Tory Green: We’re losing ground by standing still. Circle is minting USDC in Bermuda, Ripple is launching in the UAE. Why? Because those places offer clarity.
The dollar’s share of global stablecoins has dropped from 99% to 82%—not because demand is down, but because uncertainty is up. Every month without GENIUS, we hand the future to Hong Kong, Brazil, and the EU. Ironically, they’re using playbooks we wrote.
Crowdfund Insider: What types of regulatory clarity do blockchain innovators and fintech companies need most from Washington right now and in the future?
Tory Green:
Three things, plain and simple:
Asset Classification: Is this a security, a commodity, or something new? The SEC’s “regulation by lawsuit” playbook is chaos. We need statutes, not subpoenas.
Banking Access: Crypto companies still get stonewalled by banks. The OCC’s 2020 guidance was a start, but politics keeps pulling the rug.
Tax Treatment: Treating crypto like property makes every micropayment a reporting nightmare. Australia’s token mapping is a smarter model.
GENIUS is a down payment on clarity for stablecoins. Congress needs to finish the job for everything else—now, not the next election.
Crowdfund Insider: Some lawmakers are still skeptical about crypto; what do you think is the key to building trust between the industry and D.C.?
Tory Green:
Show, don’t tell. Real-world impact is the antidote to skepticism:
Stablecoins saved Ukraine $1.2B in remittance fees during war.
DeFi gives small businesses capital at half the cost of banks.
At io.net, decentralized compute slashes AI training costs by 90% for startups.
And let’s stop relitigating FTX. That was a failure of centralized finance, not blockchain. GENIUS’s reserve rules would have stopped it cold.
Crowdfund Insider: If the GENIUS Act stalls in the House, what messages does that send to investors, developers, and world markets watching the U.S.?
Tory Green:
Three signals, none of them good:
America isn’t serious about fintech. China is piloting a digital yuan across 26 countries. The EU’s MiCA is live. We’re still stuck in committee.
Partisanship over progress. Crypto isn’t red or blue—three-quarters of under-40 voters own digital assets. Delay alienates the next generation.
Capital flight. A16z is sending 60% of its latest fund abroad. Talent follows money.
Crowdfund Insider: How has the industry’s tone changed over the past year regarding regulation and what do you think is at stake now?
Tory Green:
We’ve moved from “regulation is evil” to “smart regulation is oxygen.” The 2024 crash and exploits like Hyperliquid’s $4M hack proved that ambiguity breeds scams. Even the most hardcore libertarians now see that clear rules protect true decentralization. The alternative? A patchwork of state laws—think New York’s BitLicense, which drove out 75% of crypto firms—or, worse, a knee-jerk national ban.
Crowdfund Insider: Let’s assume the GENIUS Act is passed, what’s the next step Congress or regulators should take to keep supporting blockchain technology innovation?
Tory Green:
Fix Section 6050I. Right now, businesses have to report every crypto transaction over $10K, including sender data—a privacy and compliance nightmare. Even Treasury says it’s unworkable.
Congress should:
Raise the threshold to $50K (same as cash).
Exclude decentralized protocols.
Exempt stablecoin transfers between regulated entities.
Then, give DeFi a safe harbor to prevent another Tornado Cash fiasco.
Crowdfund Insider: What should the U.S. be aiming for in terms of a long-term national blockchain and stablecoin strategy?
Tory Green:
Three pillars:
Dollar Dominance: Mandate that all USD-backed stablecoins use Fed-regulated custodians. Keep the dollar the backbone of crypto.
Innovation Zones: Let states like Wyoming act as sandboxes for DeFi and DAO governance, without federal overreach.
Infrastructure Investment: Fund decentralized compute (like io.net) so the AI/blockchain revolution happens here, not in Shenzhen.
Crowdfund Insider: How do you see decentralized AI intersecting with stablecoin and blockchain regulation, and why is it important for lawmakers to comprehend that connection now?
Tory Green:
AI runs on incentives. Today, OpenAI pays for GPU time in dollars via centralized clouds. But imagine an AI agent that earns crypto for completing tasks, pays for compute in stablecoins, and stakes tokens to verify outputs—all on decentralized networks like io.net.
To get there, we need:
Stablecoins for microtransactions (machine-to-machine payments).
Clear smart contract laws so DAOs can govern AI models.
Tax policies that don’t treat every AI token swap as a taxable event.
Lawmakers who silo “crypto” and “AI” will miss the plot. The next internet will be built on both.