Money Is Changing—And So Are the Rules About Who Gets to Use It

Last week, without fanfare, lawmakers laid the foundation for a financial system where every dollar has a memory, and every user must prove their legitimacy to participate.

This article explains how a new law quietly signed on July 18 could reshape how Americans use money. With digital dollars now tied to personal identity and monitored by private firms, it raises urgent questions about privacy, access, faith, and a threat to financial freedom. Whether or not it leads to outright persecution, it builds a system in which the ability to “buy or sell” can be made conditional—not by law, but by quiet corporate consensus.

Last Friday, July 18, 2025, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law a sweeping piece of financial legislation that received little public attention. It is called the GENIUS Act, and while it may sound like just another government acronym, it has the potential to reshape how Americans use, access, and think about money.

The GENIUS Act, short for Guaranteed Electronic National Infrastructure for Ubiquitous Stability, creates the first nationwide legal framework for a type of digital currency known as stablecoins. These are digital tokens tied to the value of the U.S. dollar, and they are issued by private companies such as PayPal, JPMorgan, and Circle, the firm behind USDC. These tokens allow people to send money quickly online, make payments across borders, or interact with emerging financial technology platforms. Until now, there were no clear federal rules governing how these dollar-backed tokens should be issued, audited, or monitored.

Lawmakers said the new law was necessary to protect consumers from scams, make sure stablecoin issuers had enough reserves to back their digital dollars, and help preserve the dollar’s strength in a world where other countries are rapidly building their own government-backed digital currencies. The law also lays out rules for companies to legally issue stablecoins in the U.S. market. However, it comes with conditions that many Americans may not fully understand, and that civil liberties groups are beginning to question.

Every Transaction Will Be Tied to Your Identity

Under the GENIUS Act, companies that want to issue government-approved stablecoins must follow the same security standards as traditional banks. This includes a process called Know Your Customer (KYC), which requires them to collect personal information like names, birthdates, addresses, and official identification from anyone who wants to use their digital tokens. These firms must also follow Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules and conduct screenings to ensure that users are not violating U.S. sanctions or engaged in criminal activity.

These requirements are not new in the banking world. But what makes this law different is that it applies these rules to blockchain-based money, where every transaction is permanently recorded in a public database. When these records are connected to someone’s verified identity, it creates a permanent financial trail. Anyone with the right tools—including law enforcement, government regulators, and private analytics firms—can search that trail to see how money moved, when, and between whom.

KYC no longer verifies someone once and then moves on. It now binds that person’s identity to every financial transaction they make with stablecoins going forward.

The Dollar Is No Longer One Thing

Most Americans are used to thinking of the dollar as a single currency, the same whether it is in your wallet or your checking account. That is no longer true. Today’s money exists in several forms, each with different levels of privacy and control:

• Cash: Physical bills and coins. Anonymous, widely accepted, and not traceable.

• Bank deposits: Dollars stored digitally in checking or savings accounts. Identity is required but surveillance is limited.

• Stablecoins: Digital tokens such as USDC or PayPal USD. They now must be tied to verified identity and meet federal compliance standards.

• Tokenized bank deposits: Blockchain-based assets issued by large institutions like JPMorgan and Citi for high-value clients.

• CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies): Government-issued digital dollars. These are prohibited for consumer use under a separate law passed alongside the GENIUS Act.

With these differences, the form of the dollar you use now affects what kind of privacy you have. A twenty-dollar bill offers full anonymity. A twenty-dollar stablecoin is tied to your identity and may be monitored or restricted. Even though Congress banned a government-run digital dollar, privacy advocates warn that stablecoins could be used to enforce similar types of control through the private sector.

What Happens When Money Becomes Conditional

The GENIUS Act raises serious questions about the future of freedom in financial transactions. When every move you make with your money is traceable and tied to your identity, that system can be used to monitor, limit, or deny access. That might sound far-fetched, but a trend known as debanking is already happening.

Debanking is when a financial institution cuts off service to an individual, nonprofit, or business—not because of criminal behavior, but because of their views, values, or associations. Over the past several years, religious organizations, political activists, and social commentators have all had bank accounts or payment processing services shut down. The reasons are usually vague. Often, it comes down to “reputational risk” or internal policy.

Now imagine that same type of risk analysis embedded in the core of a digital currency system. With stablecoins operating under strict federal rules, a company could be pressured to freeze funds or block donations based on how a person or organization is labeled by third-party monitors. And because these transactions are permanently recorded on a public blockchain, the impact could follow users for years.

Why Christians Should Be Paying Attention

For churches, ministries, and faith-based nonprofits, the GENIUS Act is more than a regulatory change. It represents a broader shift in how money is controlled and accessed—one that raises both immediate operational risks and deeper spiritual concerns. Many Christian groups already rely heavily on digital giving platforms, payment processors, and online tools for donations. Now, with stablecoins falling under federal oversight, these funds must be tied to verified identities, subject to federal screening rules, and recorded on permanent public ledgers.

This presents clear risks for religious organizations, especially those that hold traditional views on marriage, sexuality, life issues, or education. Debanking—the closure of accounts or denial of services for ideological or reputational reasons—has already happened to Christian groups through major banks and financial platforms. The GENIUS Act now extends that risk to digital currencies, where private issuers are expected to enforce federal compliance mandates, but are not bound by First Amendment protections. They can freeze accounts or restrict transactions without a court order, and without public accountability.

But for many Christians, the concern is not just financial—it is biblical. The passage in Revelation 13 describes a time when “no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark.” For years, this was interpreted by some to mean the government would eventually create laws to enforce that restriction. But with the rise of digital currency tied to identity, many are beginning to see that such a system could emerge through private policy rather than legislation.

What makes the GENIUS Act so concerning in this context is that it doesn’t require new government laws to block someone from participating in the economy. It simply empowers companies—following federal guidance—to enforce policies that determine who can use money and under what conditions. Once identity is permanently linked to transactions, and financial activity is subject to review, a person’s access to basic goods and services could be curtailed not by law, but by terms of service.

This infrastructure is not the mark of the beast. But it does make clear how such a system could take form—quietly, gradually, and with no dramatic government declaration. It shifts the danger away from overt persecution and toward quiet exclusion, where decisions made by algorithms, risk departments, or policy updates could tag someone who is giving to a church, receiving donations, or even buying daily necessities.

For Christians who believe in financial stewardship, freedom of conscience, and spiritual independence, this is not just a policy debate—it is a warning. The GENIUS Act marks a turning point in how money is managed in the digital age. Whether or not it leads to outright persecution, it builds a system in which the ability to “buy or sell” can be made conditional—not by law, but by quiet corporate consensus. And that may be even harder to resist.

The Rules Are Coming

The GENIUS Act has been signed, but it is not yet fully operational. Federal agencies like the Department of the Treasury and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are now responsible for writing the rules that will define how this law is enforced. These rules are expected in 2026 and will clarify questions such as:

• How long identity and transaction data can be stored

• What standards apply to freezing or blocking accounts

• Whether anonymous or low-risk transactions will be allowed

• How these rules apply across state and national borders

Civil liberties groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and crypto advocacy organizations like Coin Center are already preparing to push for stricter privacy protections.

What It Means for Everyone

This is not just a story about technology. It is about who controls access to money and under what conditions. The GENIUS Act passed with bipartisan support and very little public debate. For now, it is being presented as a modernization of the U.S. financial system. But the deeper question is whether it opens the door to a future where using money requires approval and where privacy is no longer part of the transaction.

As regulators write the rules, and as more Americans move toward digital payments, the consequences of this law will become more visible. For now, the system is in place. The challenge is whether anyone will draw the line before it begins to draw itself.