GENIUS Act Accelerates Institutional Tokenization Buildout

The GENIUS Act, signed into law on July 18, 2025, created the first U.S. federal framework for payment stablecoins, requiring permitted issuers to maintain one-to-one reserves in highly liquid assets and meet redemption and supervisory standards. While the statute does not directly govern every real-world asset, it gives banks and asset managers a clearer basis for using regulated stablecoins as on-chain cash and settlement rails for tokenized funds, bonds and cross-border transactions.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said on May 13, 2026 that three institution-focused networks had raised more than $1 billion following the law’s passage. Circle’s Arc secured $222 million, Canton was pursuing roughly $300 million, and Tempo, backed by Stripe and Paradigm, raised $500 million. The concentration of capital around compliant, privacy-oriented blockchain infrastructure suggests institutional tokenization is moving beyond pilots toward production systems capable of supporting large-scale issuance and settlement.