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The Senate is expected to approve legislation Tuesday that would regulate a form of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins, the first of what is expected to be a wave of crypto legislation from Congress that the industry hopes will bolster its legitimacy and reassure consumers.The fast-moving legislation, which will be sent to the House for potential revisions, comes on the heels of a 2024 campaign cycle where the crypto industry ranked among the top political spenders in the country, underscoring its growing influence in Washington and beyond.Eighteen Democratic senators have shown support for the legislation as it has advanced, siding with the Republican majority in the 5347 Senate. If passed, it would become the second major bipartisan bill to advance through the Senate this year, following the Laken Riley Act on immigration enforcement in January.Still, most Democrats oppose the bill. They have raised concerns that the measure does little to address President Donald Trump’s personal financial interests in the crypto space.“We weren’t able to include certainly everything we would have wanted, but it was a good bipartisan effort,” said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., on Monday. She added, “This is an unregulated area that will now be regulated.”Known as the GENIUS Act, the bill would establish guardrails and consumer protections for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar. The acronym stands for “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins.”It’s expected to pass Tuesday, since it only requires a simple majority voteand it already cleared its biggest procedural hurdle last week in a 6830 vote. But the bill has faced more resistance than initially expected.There is a provision in the bill that bans members of Congress and their families from profiting off stablecoins. But that prohibition does not extend to the president and his family, even as Trump builds a crypto empire from the White House.Trump hosted a private dinner last month at his golf club with top investors in a Trump-branded meme coin. His family holds a large stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that provides yet another avenue where investors are buying in and enriching the president’s relatives. World Liberty has launched its own stablecoin, USD1.The administration is broadly supportive of crypto’s growth and its integration into the economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week said the legislation could help push the U.S. stablecoin market beyond $2 trillion by the end of 2028.Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbasethe nation’s largest crypto exchange and a major advocate for the billhas met with Trump and praised his early moves on crypto. This past weekend, Coinbase was among the more prominent brands that sponsored a parade in Washington commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversaryan event that coincided with Trump’s 79th birthday.But the crypto industry emphasizes that they view the legislative effort as bipartisan, pointing to champions on each side of the aisle.“The GENIUS Act will be the most significant digital assets legislation ever to pass the U.S. Senate,” Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., said ahead of a key vote last week. “It’s the product of months of bipartisan work.”The bill did hit one rough patch in early May, when a bloc of Senate Democrats who had previously supported the bill reversed course and voted to block it from advancing. That prompted new negotiations involving Senate Republicans, Democrats and the White House, which ultimately produced the compromise version expected to win passage Tuesday.“There were many, many changes that were made. And ultimately, it’s a much better deal because we were all at the table,” Alsobrooks said.Still, the bill leaves unresolved concerns over presidential conflicts of interestan issue that remains a source of tension within the Democratic caucus.Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been among the most outspoken as the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, warning that the bill creates a “super highway” for Trump corruption. She has also warned that the bill would allow major technology companies, such as Amazon and Meta, to launch their own stablecoins.If the stablecoin legislation passes the Senate on Tuesday, it still faces several hurdles before reaching the president’s desk. It must clear the narrowly held Republican majority in the House, where lawmakers may try to attach a broader market structure billsweeping legislation that could make passage through the Senate more difficult.Trump has said he wants stablecoin legislation on his desk before Congress breaks for its August recess, now just under 50 days away. Joey Cappelletti, Mary Clare Jalonick and Alan Suderman, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Trolls be warned: influencers are now hiring private investigators to expose their anonymous bullies online. Australian influencer Indy Clinton, who boasts 2.1 million TikTok followers and was crowned Creator of the Year in 2023, posted a seemingly typical video yesterday of herself dancing in her kitchen. At first glance, it appeared no different from her usual contentuntil viewers read the on-screen text. How it feels receiving a 64 page report from my PI [private investigator] after an extensive 3 month investigation on all my ladies (mothers) who have continuously bullied, defamed & trolled me and my family for months n moths & even years, the text read. Change is coming. and I will spend my last dollars to make change before I renovate my bathroom, she wrote in the caption, with the hashtag #urnotanonymous. Clintons comments were soon flooded with support from fellow influencers, many praising her for taking action. Some even asked for the contact details of her private investigator. The trolls, on the other hand, were conspicuously absent. Its literally nothing but crickets in this comment section from all the haters, one commenter wrote. I would pay to see the reaction of those people when they found out that they’re not so anonymous, another added. On her Instagram Story, Clinton claimed she now knows specific details about her trollsincluding where they live, their Australian Business Numbers, and even the tattoos they got at 18. But what surprised her most: many of the trolls were fellow mothers. (Fast Company has reached out to Clinton for comment.) @outspoken_the_podcast Indy Clinton has iconically put her trolls on notice The popular TikToker recently hired a private investigator to track down faceless bullies relentlessly defaming her. Indy dropped a series of clues about some the biggest culprits, disturbingly revealing that majority of them are mothers. original sound – Outspoken If youre wondering who actually has the time or energy to troll influencers online, the scale of the problem may surprise you. Manychat, a leading chat marketing platform, surveyed 974 Americans in May 2025 about online behavior. The results: 61% admitted to making offensive jokes or comments online, and 3 in 5 confessed to spreading rumors. More than 3 in 4 believed their online actions have no real-world consequencesdespite research linking online harassment to anxiety, sleep disruption, and suicidal thoughts. Fast Company has previously reported on the internets so-called snarking problem, with entire subreddits devoted to obsessively dissectingand critiquinginfluencers every move. The internets promise of anonymity has long made trolls feel untouchable. In fact, 84% of those surveyed said they feel more empowered to speak freely online when anonymous. But with influencers now taking matters into their own hands, the tide may be turning. Just last week, the anonymous founder of Tattle Lifea British gossip forum often described as the most hate-filled corner of the webwas revealed to be an influencer himself. The unmasking followed a two-year investigation led by Neil and Donna Sands, who successfully sued the site for defamation. The internet is not an anonymous place, they posted on Instagram while sharing the news. The comments section is awfully quiet right now.
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E-Commerce
Six of the Group of Seven leaders are trying on the final day of their summit Tuesday to show the wealthy nations’ club still has the clout to shape world events despite the early departure of U.S. President Donald Trump.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his counterparts from the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Japan will be joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO chief Mark Rutte to discuss Russia’s relentless war on its neighbor.World leaders had gathered in Canada with the specific goal of helping to defuse a series of pressure points, only to be disrupted by a showdown over Iran’s nuclear program that could escalate in dangerous and uncontrollable ways. Israel launched an aerial bombardment campaign against Iran on Friday, and Iran has hit back with missiles and drones.Trump left the summit in the Canadian Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis a day early late Monday, saying: “I have to be back, very important.” As conflict between Israel and Iran intensified, he declared that Tehran should be evacuated “immediately”while also expressing optimism about a deal to stop the violence.Before leaving, Trump joined the other leaders in issuing a statement saying Iran “can never have a nuclear weapon” and calling for a “de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza.” Getting unanimityeven on a short and broadly worded statementwas a modest measure of success for the group.At the summit, Trump warned that Tehran must curb its nuclear program before it’s “too late.” He said Iranian leaders would “like to talk” but they had already had 60 days to reach an agreement on their nuclear ambitions and failed to do so before the Israeli aerial assault began. “They have to make a deal,” he said.Asked what it would take for the U.S. to get involved in the conflict militarily, Trump said Monday morning, “I don’t want to talk about that.”But by Monday afternoon, Trump warned ominously on social media, “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” Shortly after that, Trump decided to leave the summit and skip a series of Tuesday meetings that would address the war in Ukraine and trade issues.The sudden departure only heightened the drama of a world that seems on verge of several firestorms. Trump already has imposed severe tariffs on multiple nations that risk a global economic slowdown. There has been little progress on settling the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.Trump’s stance on Ukraine puts him fundamentally at odds with the other G7 leaders, who back Ukraine and are clear that Russia is the aggressor in the war.The U.S. president on Monday suggested there would have been no war if G7 members hadn’t expelled Putin from the organization in 2014 for annexing Crimea.Trump on Monday demurred when asked if he supported Russia, saying “I only care about saving lives.”With talks on ending the war at an impasse, Starmer said Britain and other G7 members were slapping new tariffs on Russia in a bid to get it to the ceasefire negotiating table. Zelenskyy is due to attend the summit Tuesday at Carney’s invitation, along with other leaders including Rutte and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Trump declined to join in the sanctions on Russia, saying he would wait until Europe did so first.“When I sanction a country, that costs the U.S. a lot of money, a tremendous amount of money,” he said.Trump had been scheduled before his departure to meet with Zelenskyy and with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.On the Middle East, Merz told reporters that Germany was planning to draw up a final communique proposal on the Israel-Iran conflict that will stress that “Iran must under no circumstances be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons-capable material.”Trump also seemed to put a greater priority on addressing his grievances with other nations’ trade policies than on collaboration with G7 allies. The U.S. president has imposed 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as 25% tariffs on autos. Trump is also charging a 10% tax on imports from most countries, though he could raise rates on July 9, after the 90-day negotiating period set by him would expire.He announced with Starmer that they had signed a trade framework Monday that was previously announced in May, with Trump saying that British trade was “very well protected’ because “I like them, that’s why. That’s their ultimate protection.” Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Banff, Alberta, and Josh Boak in Calgary, Alberta, contributed to this story. Rob Gillies and Jill Lawless, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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