Senate Passes Stablecoin Bill In Milestone For Crypto Industry
In a landmark decision for the digital asset sector, the U.S. Senate approved a bill before the holiday to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency tokens known as stablecoins that are tethered to the US dollar.
With several Democrats joining the majority of Republicans in supporting the proposed government regulations, the bill, known as the GENIUS Act, passed with bipartisan support by a vote of 68-30, Reuters
The bill must first pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives before it can be given to President Donald Trump for approval.
“It is a major milestone. It establishes, for the first time, a regulatory regime for stablecoins, a rapidly developing financial product and industry,” said Andrew Olmem, a managing partner at law firm Mayer Brown and the former deputy director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first term.
Crypto traders frequently utilize stablecoins, a kind of cryptocurrency created to maintain a steady value, typically a 1:1 dollar peg, to transfer money between tokens. Stablecoins, according to their proponents, can facilitate immediate payments and have seen a significant increase in use in recent years.
The stablecoin bill, if it becomes law, would mandate that tokens be backed by liquid assets, such as short-term Treasury bills and US dollars, and that issuers reveal to the public the makeup of their reserves every month.
The cryptocurrency sector has long advocated for lawmakers to enact laws establishing regulations for digital assets, claiming that a well-defined framework may facilitate the wider use of stablecoins. The industry attempted to portray the issue as bipartisan and invested over $119 million in supporting pro-crypto congressional candidates in the previous year’s elections.
The House passed a stablecoin measure last year, but the Senate, then controlled by Democrats, did not take it up, and it died.
After seeking cryptocurrency revenue throughout his presidential campaign, Trump has attempted to significantly alter U.S. cryptocurrency regulations.
The White House wants a stablecoin measure passed by August, according to Bo Hines, the head of Trump’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets.
Other Democrats said that measure needed stricter anti-money laundering safeguards and restrictions on foreign stablecoin issuers, expressing worry that the plan would not stop large tech companies from issuing their own private stablecoins.“A bill that turbocharges the stablecoin market, while facilitating the president’s corruption and undermining national security, financial stability, and consumer protection is worse than no bill at all,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, in remarks on the Senate floor in May.
The Senate has been very busy this month.
The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate approved three ambassadors appointed by President Donald Trump, stationing them in the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Italy, respectively.
All three new ambassadors, Warren Stephens, Tom Barrack, and Tilman Feritta, are billionaires who generously support Trump and other Republicans. They all garnered a few Democratic votes, as did all Republicans.
The Senate also approved Stephens as the new ambassador to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland by a vote of 59-39.
The Senate confirmed Barrack, a private equity executive and longtime Trump ally, in 60-36 vote on Tuesday.
“For three decades, Tom successfully managed a global private equity firm,” Trump said of Barrack on Truth Social in December. “He is a well-respected and experienced voice of reason to a wide range of thought leaders in both political and business circles.”
Barrack has known Trump since the 1980s. He worked in the Reagan administration before establishing the private equity company Colony Capital. He advised Trump’s campaign in 2016 and led his 2017 inauguration committee.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 83-14 to approve Fertitta as the United States ambassador to Italy.
Fertitta, who Trump appointed to the position in December last year, is the CEO of Landry’s, a hospitality corporation that operates restaurants, hotels, casinos, and other entertainment facilities. He also owns the NBA team Houston Rockets.
The Millionaire Discovers His Daughter Eating Dog Food — And the Reason Shocks Him…
The Millionaire Discovers His Daughter Eating Dog Food — And the Reason Shocks Him…
In the perfect kitchen of a mansion in Alphaville, where marble shined as if it had never known dust and silence seemed like part of the furniture, Ricardo Monteiro returned home earlier than usual. His electric BMW had just slid into the driveway, and he was still holding his phone to his ear, finalizing the details of a multimillion-dollar deal. To the world, he was a man who had mastered everything: contracts, companies, meetings, numbers that never seemed to end.
But that afternoon, as he stepped through the front door, a strange feeling scratched at his chest. It wasn’t fatigue or stress. It was something colder, as if the very air were warning him that something inside his home was about to break.
“Leticia?” he called, expecting the sweet, practiced voice of his wife.
Nothing.
The vast house answered him with a silence he couldn’t explain. He walked down the long hallway, passing paintings chosen more for their price than their beauty, until he reached the gourmet kitchen. There, he noticed the dim light and a faint, secretive sound: a nervous chewing… a small sniff… as if someone were afraid to even exist.
Ricardo took a few steps forward… and then he saw it.
In the corner beside the cabinets, sitting on the cold floor, was his daughter Sofia — seven years old — hunched over with her shoulders tight. Her small hands were clutching dog kibble. She was putting it into her mouth with such desperate urgency that Ricardo’s heart stopped for a moment.
The girl looked far too thin for her age. Her dress hung loosely on her body, as if she had been shrinking over time, as if she had learned to take up less space in the world.
“Sofia… oh my God,” he whispered, his voice louder than he intended.
The little girl jumped like a frightened animal. She quickly hid her hands behind her back, crumbs falling onto the marble floor.
“Don’t tell Aunt Leticia, Dad… please,” she begged, her eyes filling with tears. “She says I’m not allowed to eat after hours, but… I’m so hungry. My stomach hurts.”
Ricardo dropped to his knees, ignoring his expensive suit and the cold floor beneath him. All he felt was a crushing weight of guilt in his throat, and a question exploding inside his mind: how could his daughter be starving in a house overflowing with food?
“Since when haven’t you eaten, princess?”
Sofia looked down and played with the edge of her dress, as if the truth were something dangerous.
“Since yesterday morning… Aunt Leticia said girls who disobey don’t get dinner or breakfast.”
“Disobey for what?”
The answer came with a simplicity that shattered him.
“I spilled water on the living room carpet. I swear it was an accident, Dad. But she yelled… and she said I’m clumsy just like my mom.”
The name Clara — his first wife — fell into the silence like shattered glass. Clara had died when Sofia was only three years old. Ricardo remembered the promise he had made back then:
“I’ll take care of our daughter. She’ll never want for anything.”
In his mind, he had kept that promise: money, security, a huge house. But in his daughter’s world, “never wanting for anything” meant something much simpler — food, tenderness, the freedom to make mistakes.
At that moment, the sound of high heels approached from the hallway.
Leticia appeared at the kitchen door, dressed perfectly as always. Her smile flickered for a second when she saw Ricardo kneeling on the floor beside the little girl.
“Darling, you’re home early. I didn’t hear you come in,” she said lightly, as if nothing were wrong.
Ricardo stood up slowly. His shadow covered her.
“Sofia was eating dog food.”
Leticia let out a crystalline laugh, too clean, too perfectly rehearsed.
“Oh, my love… children do strange things. I’m sure she was just playing. Right, Sofie?”
The nickname sounded like a tightened rope.
Sofia clung to her father’s arm, trembling.
“Playing?” Ricardo repeated, the word tasting bitter. “She says she hasn’t eaten since yesterday.”
Leticia stepped closer, carrying the scent of expensive perfume that once seemed seductive. Now, Ricardo felt it like a mask.
“Ricardo, you always exaggerate,” she said, glancing at Sofia with a sweetness that hid a quiet threat. “She ate perfectly well yesterday.”
The little girl, as if following a script she had learned by heart, whispered softly:
“Yes… Aunt Leticia.”
The Millionaire Discovers His Daughter Eating Dog Food — Part 2
Ricardo stared at Sofia.
The way she said it… the way her small voice trembled… it didn’t sound like a lie. It sounded like a child who had learned that telling the truth could be dangerous.
For a moment, no one moved.
The kitchen felt colder than before.
Ricardo slowly turned his head toward Leticia.
Her smile was still there. Perfect. Polished. Calm.
Too calm.
“You’re saying she’s lying?” Ricardo asked quietly.
Leticia shrugged lightly.
“Ricardo, she’s a child. Children exaggerate things. Maybe she skipped lunch because she was upset. Maybe she’s being dramatic.”
Sofia tightened her grip on her father’s sleeve.
Ricardo felt it.
That tiny hand shaking.
And suddenly something inside him cracked.
He crouched down again and gently lifted Sofia into his arms.
She felt lighter than she should have.
Far too light.
When he carried her to the kitchen island and sat her down, he noticed the sharpness of her collarbones under the fabric of her dress.
A cold wave of realization ran through him.
When was the last time he had really looked at his daughter?
Not just greeted her quickly before leaving for work.
Not just kissed her forehead while answering emails.
Really looked at her.
“How often do you eat, sweetheart?” he asked softly.
Sofia hesitated.
Her eyes darted toward Leticia.
Ricardo noticed.
“Look at me,” he said gently.
Sofia forced her eyes back to him.
“Sometimes… breakfast,” she whispered.
“Sometimes?”
“If I’m good.”
Ricardo’s stomach twisted.
“What does ‘good’ mean?”
Sofia’s voice became even smaller.
“If I stay quiet… if I don’t spill anything… if I don’t ask questions… if I don’t cry.”
Ricardo slowly turned toward Leticia again.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
Leticia crossed her arms.
“Oh please,” she sighed. “She’s being dramatic again.”
But Ricardo wasn’t listening anymore.
His mind was racing through memories.
Late meetings.
Business trips.
Dinners with investors.
Late nights in his office.
He had believed Sofia was safe.
He had believed his house was safe.
He had believed Leticia loved his daughter.
“Ricardo,” Leticia said with an irritated tone now, “you’re making this into something ridiculous.”
He looked at her.
Really looked.
And for the first time… something felt wrong.
Her eyes.
They weren’t worried.
They weren’t defensive.
They were annoyed.
Annoyed that the moment was happening.
“Why is she afraid of you?” Ricardo asked.
Leticia laughed again.
“Afraid? Ricardo, don’t be absurd.”
Sofia flinched at the sound of her voice.
Ricardo saw it.
He saw everything now.
Every small movement.
Every nervous breath.
Every tiny sign he had ignored for months.
“Sofia,” he asked quietly, “does Leticia punish you?”
The silence that followed felt endless.
Sofia looked down at the floor.
Tears rolled slowly down her cheeks.
Ricardo felt his heart breaking.
“Sweetheart,” he said softly. “You can tell me.”
Her lips trembled.
“She locks me in my room sometimes,” Sofia whispered.
Ricardo froze.
Leticia immediately spoke.
“Oh for God’s sake, Ricardo, that’s called discipline.”
But Sofia kept talking.
“Sometimes she turns off the lights… and says monsters like little girls who make mistakes.”
Ricardo’s hands slowly curled into fists.
“And food?” he asked.
Sofia nodded.
“If I’m bad… I don’t eat.”
Ricardo stood up slowly.
Very slowly.
He felt something inside his chest turning into fire.
“Ricardo, stop this,” Leticia snapped. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
He walked toward the refrigerator.
Opened it.
The shelves were full.
Fresh fruit.
Cooked meals.
Expensive cheeses.
Desserts.
Everything a child could ever want.
And yet his daughter had been eating dog food.
Ricardo closed the fridge door.
The sound echoed through the kitchen.
“Pack your things,” he said calmly.
Leticia blinked.
“What?”
“Your things,” he repeated. “Pack them.”
Her expression hardened.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re leaving this house tonight.”
Leticia laughed again, but this time the laugh was sharp.
“Oh, you’re serious?”
“Yes.”
She stepped closer to him.
“Ricardo, you can’t be serious. You’re believing a child over your own wife.”
Ricardo’s voice became colder than ice.
“My daughter is starving in my house.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“She’s terrified of you.”
“Children are dramatic!”
“She’s seven.”
The words hit the air like a hammer.
Silence filled the kitchen again.
Leticia’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re making a mistake,” she said quietly.
“No,” Ricardo replied.
“I’m correcting one.”
Sofia was still sitting on the counter, hugging herself.
Ricardo walked back to her.
He opened a drawer and took out a plate.
Then he took bread, cheese, fruit, and milk from the fridge.
Within minutes he placed a small meal in front of her.
Sofia stared at it like it wasn’t real.
“You can eat,” he said gently.
She looked toward Leticia again.
Ricardo followed her gaze.
Leticia was standing there with a dark expression.
“Eat,” Ricardo repeated.
Slowly… Sofia picked up the bread.
Her hands were shaking.
She took a bite.
And then another.
And another.
She ate like someone who had been waiting days for permission to breathe.
Ricardo felt his eyes burn.
He turned away so she wouldn’t see.
Behind him, Leticia spoke again.
“You’re destroying our marriage over a misunderstanding.”
Ricardo didn’t even look at her.
“No,” he said quietly.
“You destroyed it the moment you hurt my daughter.”
Leticia’s voice turned cold.
“You’ll regret this.”
Ricardo finally looked at her.
“No,” he said again.
“You will.”
At that moment, something changed in Leticia’s face.
The mask slipped.
Just for a second.
And what Ricardo saw there made his blood run cold.
Hatred.
Not for him.
For Sofia.
Ricardo immediately stepped closer to his daughter.
Instinct.
Protection.
The kind of instinct he should have had months ago.
“Upstairs,” he told Leticia.
“Now.”
She stared at him for several seconds.
Then she turned and walked out of the kitchen without another word.
Her heels echoed through the hallway.
When the sound disappeared, Sofia whispered:
“Dad?”
Ricardo knelt beside her again.
“Yes, princess.”
“Are you mad at me?”
His heart shattered.
“No,” he said softly.
“Never.”
She hesitated before asking the next question.
“Am I… bad?”
Ricardo pulled her into his arms immediately.
“No,” he whispered.
“You’re perfect.”
And for the first time in a very long time…
Ricardo Monteiro understood something terrifying.
He had conquered the business world.
But he had almost lost the one thing that mattered most.
His daughter.
And now…
He was ready to fight for her.
No matter the cost.
