Shares of cryptocurrency firms angled higher Wednesday after the Senate on Tuesday passed a highly-anticipated stablecoin bill. Coinbase stock rocketed past a buy point in afternoon trade after announcing a new stablecoin payments solution. Legacy payments stocks including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal fell.
Dubbed the GENIUS act, the legislation provides a framework to regulate digital tokens that are pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar and further legitimizes cryptocurrencies. The bill's requirements include full reserve backing for issuers, monthly audits and anti-money laundering compliance, among other regulations.
The legislation passed in a 68-30 vote. It still needs to pass the Republican-held House.
"For the Senate to recognize the power of U.S. dollar stablecoins — and do so with notable bipartisan support — has been years in the making," said Nathan McCauley, CEO of federally chartered crypto bank, Anchorage Digital. He said that the bill will lead to greater changes in the industry.
"As stablecoin legislation continues to advance, GENIUS lays a strong foundation for lawmakers to make progress on comprehensive, bipartisan market structure reform," McCauley said.
Coinbase Stablecoin Payments
Crypto exchange Coinbase on Wednesday afternoon announced a new payments solution for stablecoins, called Coinbase Payments. The solution allows customers to make payments on various commerce platforms.
Coinbase Payments is already live with Shopify. The integration allows for 24/7 USDC stablecoin payments across the Shopify ecosystem.
Coinbase Stock
Coinbase stock closed up 16.3% Wednesday at 295.29, ending around mid-February levels. In the process, shares overtook a 277.01 buy point and rallied past the entry's buy zone, which ran to 290.86. The result is that COIN stock is up almost 19% so far this year.
Shopify stock eased slightly Wednesday with shares trending lower away from a buy zone. Shares attempted to break out above the 112.38 handle buy point on June 11 but quickly fell from the buy zone.
SHOP stock is down a fraction so far this year.
Payments firms traded lower following the news.
Dow Jones giant Visa retreated 4.9% Wednesday and is on track for its second weekly decline in a row. V stock traded in a buy zone at record highs last week before shares fell on Friday. Visa is up about 8% so far this year.
Rival Mastercard fell 5.4% Wednesday, back near its early May levels. Mastercard stock has mounted a strong rebound since April to a record high 594.71 on June 13. Still, the stock is only up 2.3% in 2025.
PayPal slumped about 3% Wednesday, adding to its 19.7% drop this year.
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