President Donald Trump is expected to soon sign a new $2.3 trillion stimulus package. The legislation would lay groundwork for regulations around stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to the U.S. dollar. The Genius Act passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support. The legislation does have some very vocal critics. They are increasingly worried about possible conflicts of interest as Trump’s ties to the crypto industry deepen.

The Genius Act provides the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency with additional enforcement authority over issuers of nationwide stablecoins. It further institutes a two-tiered licensing regime for certain issuers. This decision is intended to bring more regulatory oversight to stablecoins.

One more bone of contention circles around protections related to Trump’s crypto startup. His World Liberty Financial, Inc., was set to launch a new stablecoin—USD1—ahead of the pack. These moves have raised deep ethical concerns, especially because they create obvious conflicts of interest.

A few lawmakers tried to insert language to set standards for the ways in which Trump and other lawmakers could profit from cryptocurrencies. As these attempts to pass amendments fell short, some critics expressed worry that the legislation contained no explicit safeguards.

"It's a really big problem that the president has an indirect financial relationship with a stablecoin issuer." - Todd Phillips, banking and administrative law professor at Georgia State University

Todd Phillips, Professor of Banking and Administrative Law at Georgia State University. He has been especially concerned about sightings of the conflicts of interest.

"That is a huge conflict of interest that society is just really not prepared for." - Todd Phillips

Still, despite these issues, supporters of the Genius Act insist that the bill represents an important step towards creating a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins.

"Now we have a strong federal baseline that can serve as that sort of federal standard." - Senior Treasury official