Big Take Asia: The Dollar's Dominance Is Unwinding
As Donald Trump tries to remake global trade, the dollar's historic dominance in Asia is under pressure. After Taiwan's currency saw the biggest surge against the dollar in almost 40 years in early May, some money managers are saying the spike signals the acceleration of a bigger trend of moving investments back home. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg's Ruth Carson about what's driving Asia's shift away from the greenback and what a rewiring of global financial ties means for the region's biggest economies.
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CNBC
3 minutes ago
- CNBC
Senate passes landmark GENIUS stablecoin bill, giving crypto industry its first major win
The Senate on Tuesday passed the GENIUS Act, a landmark bill that for the first time establishes federal guardrails for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins and creates a regulated pathway for private companies to issue digital dollars with the blessing of the federal government. The bill passed with a 68-30 vote. It's a milestone day for the crypto industry and for President Donald Trump's sprawling digital asset empire. This is the first legislative victory for the digital asset industry, which put around $250 million in the 2024 cycle to elect what's now considered to be the most pro-crypto Congress in U.S. history. The bill still faces hurdles in the Republican-held House, but passage in the Senate signals a turning point — not just for the technology, but for the political clout behind it. The GENIUS Act, short for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, sets guardrails for the industry, including full reserve backing, monthly audits, and anti-money laundering compliance. It also opens the door to a broader range of issuers, including banks, fintechs, and major retailers looking to launch their own stablecoins or integrate them into existing payment systems. The bill grants sweeping authority to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who last week told a Senate appropriations subcommittee in a hearing that the U.S. stablecoin market could grow nearly eightfold to over $2 trillion in the next few years. "Stablecoin legislation backed by U.S. Treasuries or T-bills will create a market that will expand U.S. dollar usage via these stablecoins all around the world," Bessent said. GENIUS now heads to the House, which has its own version of a stablecoin bill dubbed STABLE. Both prohibit yield-bearing consumer stablecoins — but diverge on who regulates what. The Senate's version centralizes oversight with Treasury, while the House splits authority between the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency, and others. Reconciling the two could take a while, according to Congressional aides. The GENIUS Act was supposed to be the easiest crypto bill to pass, but took months to reach the Senate floor, failed once, and passed only after fierce negotiations. "We thought it would be easiest to start with stablecoins," Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said on stage in Las Vegas at this year's Bitcoin 2025 conference, which focused heavily on stablecoins. "It has been extremely difficult. I had no idea how hard this was going to be," she said. At the same event, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., echoed the frustration: "It has been murder to get them there," he said of the 18 Senate Democrats who ultimately crossed the aisle. Stablecoins are a subset of cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of real-world assets. About 99% of all stablecoins are tethered to the price of the U.S. dollar. The appeal is simple: Stablecoins offer instant settlement and lower transaction fees, cutting out the middlemen and directly threatening legacy payment rails. Shopify has already rolled out USDC-powered payments through Coinbase and Stripe. Bank of America's CEO said last week at a Morgan Stanley conference that they're having conversations with the industry and individually exploring stablecoin issuance. Payment stocks like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Block slid after The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon and Walmart are exploring their own stablecoins. That action has helped drive Circle's blockbuster stock surge, with shares up 400% since its public debut on June 5. Deutsche Bank found that stablecoin transactions hit $28 trillion last year, surpassing that of Mastercard and Visa, combined. Still, there are limits. The GENIUS Act limits non-financial Big Tech companies from directly issuing stablecoins unless they establish or partner with regulated financial entities — a provision meant to blunt monopoly concerns. JPMorgan, meanwhile, is taking a different route, launching JPMD, a deposit token designed to function like a stablecoin but tightly integrated with the traditional banking system. Issued on Coinbase's Base blockchain, JPMD is only available to institutional clients and offers features like 24/7 settlement and interest payments — part of the broader push by legacy finance to adapt to the stablecoin era without ceding ground to crypto-native firms. While Democrats tried to amend the bill to prevent the president from profiting off crypto ventures, the final legislation only bars members of Congress and their families from doing so. Trump's first financial disclosure as president, released Friday, revealed he earned at least $57 million in 2024 alone from token sales tied to World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform closely aligned with his political brand. He holds nearly 16 billion WLFI governance tokens — the crypto equivalent of voting shares — which could be worth close to $1 billion on paper, based on prior private sales. That's just one slice of the Trump crypto pie. The family's ventures, which include the controversial $TRUMP meme coin, a $2.5 billion bitcoin Treasury and proposed bitcoin and ether ETFs via and a newly launched mining firm called American Bitcoin, reflect a full-throttle push into digital finance. Forbes recently estimated Trump's crypto holdings at nearly $1 billion, lifting his total net worth to $5.6 billion.
Newsweek
6 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Democratic Support for Expanding Border Wall Surges by Double Digits: Poll
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Democrats' support for a southern border remains minimal compared to Republicans, though the percentage of left-leaning Americans who support expansion of a wall between the United States and Mexico has increased double digits in the past six years, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. Why It Matters Border crossings have drastically decreased under the current administration of President Donald Trump, fulfilling one of his major campaign promises to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country. Trump's mass deportation efforts, which have included immigrant raids criticized by portions of the American public, have extended into other federal policies including more severe travel bans and visa restrictions. What To Know A 56 percent majority of Americans now favor expanding the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, up from 46 percent in 2019, according to a survey of 5,044 people conducted from June 2 to June 8 by the Pew Research Center. While Republican support for a border wall remains high, with roughly 88 percent supporting wall expansion, Democratic support for expansion has increased to 27 percent—up from 14 percent in 2019. Migrants turn themselves in to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers after crossing over a section of border wall into the U.S. on January 5 in Ruby, Arizona. Migrants turn themselves in to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers after crossing over a section of border wall into the U.S. on January 5 in Ruby, total, 42 percent approve and 47 disapprove of the Trump administration's overall approach to immigration. Divisions in views on immigration shift based on partisanship. About 78 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents approve of the administration's approach to immigration, including 51 percent who strongly approve. Just 12 percent disapprove. Democratic antipathy toward the Trump administration's policies are more striking, with 81 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners disapproving. Among them, 53 percent strongly disapprove. About 9 percent approve. Respondents also said that current policies will cost taxpayers more money (53 percent) rather than save money (29 percent). A majority also said that these policies will make the U.S. economy weaker (46 percent) instead of stronger (34 percent). Just about two in 10 (19 percent) said immigration policies won't have much of an economic impact either way. Terrell County, Texas, Sheriff Thad Cleveland told Newsweek on Tuesday that his community near the southern border had a little activity in March and April, but May and June have been "really slow." He said there's also a Department of Defense presence. "I attribute the decrease to Trump's voice on the issue and additional support brought to the border," Cleveland said. "During the Biden administration I often said it would take a president with a strong voice letting the world know you can't come to America, [it] would have the biggest impact for illegal entries. "I still think we, Terrell County, will see an increase as other portions of the border continue to see resources." Cleveland does wonder how long the policies and resources will be sustained, saying that eventually "something has to give." He's looking to lawmakers and not Trump for long-term answers. "President Trump has done his part, now Congress must do their part and pass legislation to continue to add technology, infrastructure and manpower, as well as ensuring a future president can't come in and open the borders as was done the previous four years," the sheriff said. Following the heightened period of the COVID-19 pandemic, border crossings under former President Joe Biden surged from the end of 2021 through early 2024, hitting a peak of 370,883 in December 2023. The Pew survey also shows that Hispanic (83 percent) and Black (78 percent) adults are more likely than Asian (63 percent) and white (58 percent) adults to say that undocumented immigrants should be able to stay if they meet certain requirements. Overall, 38 percent of white adults and 30 percent of Asian adults said there should be a national effort to deport immigrants illegally in the country. In contrast, 17 percent of Black adults and 14 percent of Hispanic adults shared that sentiment. What People Are Saying U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in its announcement Monday about a new app for legal border crossings: "Those who use the CBP Home mobile app to self-deport receive cost-free travel, forgiveness of any civil fines or penalties for failing to depart the United States, and a $1,000 exit bonus, paid after their return is confirmed through the app. If they already submitted their intent to depart using previous versions of CBP Home, they will not need to resubmit." What Happens Next The Trump administration's immigration efforts have received praise from none other than immigrants in the U.S. Immigrant voters, who favored Democrats by 32 points on immigration policy in 2020, now trust Republicans more on the issue by 8 points—a seismic 40-point swing in four years, according to an analysis of the American National Election Studies (ANES) by CNN's Harry Enten.
Politico
6 minutes ago
- Politico
Another DOGE flip-flop
Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond. Send tips | Subscribe | Email Sophia | Email Irie | Email Ben The Department of Government Efficiency will need to cross out several more line items on its frequently edited 'wall of receipts.' After claiming in February that it would terminate the leases of 10 local offices of the National Labor Relations Board, President DONALD TRUMP's administration is saying it will reverse course. The DOGE-backed proposal to shutter the offices ran into outcry from Democratic senators as well as opposition from the NLRB's Trump-appointed chair and acting general counsel, according to two people familiar with the decisions who were granted anonymity to discuss the matter. It's the latest flip-flop in DOGE's mad-dash approach to cost-cutting. The haphazard method has produced repeated miscalculations and misrepresentations, and multiple reversals and corrections. MICHAEL PETERS, the commissioner of the Public Buildings Service office within the General Services Administration, told West Wing Playbook that the GSA is 'using existing cancellation rights to better align with evolving and long-term agency needs,' although he didn't speak directly to the recent reversals. 'This approach improves space utilization and helps secure more favorable terms and pricing for the federal government,' Peters said. The NLRB's field offices, which are scattered around the country, play a critical role in enforcing U.S. labor laws. The offices administer elections and process ballots when workers at private companies want to unionize. NLRB investigators probe charges of unfair labor practices, many of which are filed in person at the field offices. Agency lawyers dispense advice to workers and sometimes conduct labor trials at the field offices, too. So DOGE raised concerns within the agency when it listed on its website the planned termination of NLRB's lease for its regional office in Buffalo, New York. The GSA, which handles the government's real estate, was ultimately instructed to close virtually all NLRB buildings with leases that could be immediately terminated without incurring a penalty. That would have meant closing 10 outposts, including in cities such as Phoenix, Nashville and Milwaukee. Administration officials did not clearly indicate whether they would relocate the workers, nor how they could continue their legally sensitive work at different facilities. The NLRB has a network of 48 field offices that cover 26 different regions across the country, and spends $21 million annually altogether on rent, according to the agency's latest budget request. Despite the move to cancel the leases, the GSA has informed the Labor Board in recent days that it intends to leave the offices open for now, the two people said. The Labor Board and GSA didn't respond to requests for comment. The planned lease cancellations caused some chaos inside the Buffalo office, even prompting Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER to advocate for keeping it open. Sen. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-Ariz.) later led an opposition effort by lawmakers from Arizona and Nevada in demanding answers about the planned cancellation of the lease for the board's office in Phoenix. That office also serves parts of New Mexico, Texas and Nevada, including a strong service worker union presence in Las Vegas. Former DOGE chief ELON MUSK initially promised up to $2 trillion in overall federal savings, but he later walked back that goal to $150 billion. The group claimed to have saved the government $160 billion in May, but those numbers remain in dispute, and government spending has been climbing since Trump took office compared to the first four months of 2024. The GSA also announced in March that it was preparing to sell 443 federal properties, before later retracting the list and republishing a pared-down version. The latest about-face on the NLRB offices wipes away another few million dollars from DOGE's initial claims about the amount it has saved the government. MESSAGE US — West Wing Playbook is obsessively covering the Trump administration's reshaping of the federal government. Are you a federal worker? A DOGE staffer? Have you picked up on any upcoming DOGE moves? We want to hear from you on how this is playing out. Email us at westwingtips@ Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe! POTUS PUZZLER Who was the first president to fly in an airplane while in office? (Answer at bottom.) Agenda Setting 'SET UP FOR FAILURE': Cuts and freezes are holding up some basic government functions at agencies the Trump administration has targeted in recent months, more than a dozen federal employees told our ZACK COLMAN. Spending lockdowns and an absence of guidance from political appointees are leaving EPA scientists unable to publish their research, preventing some Energy Department officials from visiting their labs and forcing the cancellation of disaster planning exercises at FEMA. 'We are set up for failure,' one FEMA official said. Budget cuts at the NIH have prevented the agency from taking new submissions for its Environmental Health Perspectives journal, removing a way for federal scientists to publish peer-reviewed research for free. AG GETS AGGRESSIVE: More than 250 agriculture groups signed a letter, first obtained by our GRACE YARROW, urging the Trump administration to 'correct' the direction of its Make America Healthy Again goals following the release of the MAHA Commission report, which criticized the use of common herbicides and food ingredients. The groups slammed the commission's lack of transparency in creating the report and said its number of citation errors and 'false claims' could have been avoided with better industry input ahead of the release. 'The stakes are high going forward,' the groups wrote. 'The unintended consequences of making uninformed decisions for U.S. food production based on misinformation or unproven theories would be sweeping for our nation's farmers.' MORE ON MAHA … The Trump administration and House Republicans are targeting a popular nutrition program that was praised in the MAHA Commission report, our MARCIA BROWN reports. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children is under threat as the White House moves to cut fruit and vegetable benefits extended under the Biden administration. Food aid advocates are pointing out the contradiction, as the commission noted in its report that WIC helps lower obesity rates in kids. The White House fiscal 2026 budget proposes cutting the program's monthly fruit and vegetable benefits for breastfeeding mothers from $54 to $13 and the benefit for young children from $27 to $10. 'NO SAFE SPACES': The Department of Homeland Security is reversing course on earlier guidance that barred federal immigration agents from conducting raids at farms, hotels and restaurants, WaPo's CAROL D. LEONNIG, NATALIE ALLISON, MARIANNE LEVINE and LAUREN KAORI GURLEY report. The agency last week instructed ICE agents to 'hold on all worksite enforcement investigations/operations' at such businesses after Trump suggested he was sympathetic to concerns raised by agriculture and hospitality executives about his mass deportation operation's impact on labor. But by Monday, the administration had changed gears. 'There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE's efforts,' said DHS spokesperson TRICIA McLAUGHLIN. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE: Office of Management and Budget Director RUSS VOUGHT said the federal disaster fund is 'flush' with enough cash to last through September — contradicting FEMA estimates that the disaster fund would run out of cash in August, in the middle of hurricane season, POLITICO's E&E News' THOMAS FRANK reports. The apparent misstatement came as Trump has promised to reduce FEMA aid, putting pressure on states to handle higher disaster costs. Musk Radar THANKS FOR THAT: Musk posted his drug test results early this morning for his 221 million followers on X … because … why not? It comes weeks after the New York Times reported that the former DOGE chief used ketamine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and Adderall while campaigning alongside Trump. Musk has denied the story — going so far as to apparently take a urine test, which appears to have come back negative for more than a dozen drugs. 'lol,' Musk wrote. The Times' communications account said in an X post that the paper stands by its reporting. 'Nothing that he's said or presented since our article about his drug use during the presidential campaign was published contradicts what we uncovered,' the account wrote. COUGHING IN MEMPHIS: The NAACP and an environmental group today informed xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company, that they intend to sue the organization over environmental and health concerns at its supercomputer facility, AP's ADRIAN SAINZ reports. Last month, POLITICO's E&E News' ARIEL WITTENBERG reported on the ground in Memphis that the facility is belching smog-forming pollution over a part of the city that is made up predominantly of Black residents. The area already leads the state in emergency department visits for asthma. WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT EXODUS AT DOJ: The Department of Justice is set to lose about 4,500 employees to DOGE's 'fork in the road' buyout program, Bloomberg Law's SUZANNE MONYAK and JUSTIN WISE report. The agency proposed eliminating 5,093 positions, and its workforce is expected to shrink more through voluntary early retirement. Additional reduction-in-force actions 'will also be implemented as needed,' the DOJ said earlier this week. AND AT INTERIOR: Nearly 11 percent of the workforce at the Interior Department — amounting to almost 7,500 employees — have taken the Trump administration's buyout offers or early retirement in the past five months, POLITICO's E&E News' JENNIFER YACHNIN reports. Responding to a FOIA request, the department said that it has shed more than 1,000 staffers each from the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and Bureau of Reclamation in recent months. What We're Reading The Tyrant Test (The Atlantic's Adam Serwer) MAGA's Plan to Remake an Iconic New York Landmark (POLITICO's Ian Ward) New FDA Chief Wants to Fast-Track Some Drugs, Use More AI (WSJ's Liz Essley Whyte) MAGA Is at War With Itself Over Iran (The Atlantic's Jonathan Lemire and Isaac Stanley-Becker) POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER Former President THEODORE ROOSEVELT became the first sitting president to fly in an airplane, making the maiden voyage with the pilot ARCH HOXSEY on Oct. 11, 1910, according to the National Air and Space Museum.
