The passage of the GENIUS Act has significantly impacted the US stablecoin market. According to industry experts, the act has closed the door on interest-bearing payment stablecoins, but not ended the search for yield. Instead, it has pushed that search into new structures where returns come through DeFi design rather than the stablecoin itself.
Stefan Muehlbauer, Head of U.S. Government Affairs at CertiK, notes that banks are targeting yield earned as interest while DeFi players innovate around products treating rewards more like service fees through staking mechanisms.