In brief
- Kevin O’Leary criticized Senator Elizabeth Warren for tying the GENIUS Act to President Donald Trump’s crypto ties, calling her stance “un-American.”
- The GENIUS Act, which would regulate stablecoins, advanced in the Senate on Monday after key Democrats backed a revised draft.
- Warren warned the bill could enable the President to profit from USD1, a Trump family-linked stablecoin tied to a $2 billion foreign crypto deal.
Kevin O’Leary responded Monday to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) latest attacks on the Senate’s stablecoin bill, rejecting her claims as “completely deranged” and warning that politicizing the legislation could undermine the U.S.’s position in global finance.
“She’s confusing politics with progress, and this time, it could cost America dearly,” the Shark Tank investor and entrepreneur tweeted Monday. He added that, “This bill has nothing to do with Trump or meme coins.”
O’Leary was referring to the GENIUS Act, a bipartisan bill that cleared a key procedural hurdle Monday night after days of uncertainty.
If passed, it would create the first U.S. regulatory framework for issuing stablecoins, digital assets typically pegged to the U.S. dollar and used in crypto trading and payments.
O’Leary accused Warren of injecting partisanship into what he described as a necessary modernization of the financial system, while speaking on The Hill via NewsNation.
“What she’s doing right now is un-American,” the Canadian businessman said, adding that, “She’s trying to tie this bill to Trump.”
“She not only has Trump derangement syndrome—she has crypto derangement syndrome,” O’Leary said.
Warren vs the GENIUS Act
The GENIUS Act appeared stalled earlier this month after failing a cloture vote, with several Senate Democrats voicing concerns over potential conflicts of interest involving President Donald Trump and his family.
A revised draft last week resolved some concerns, prompting key Democrats to return ahead of a possible floor vote Tuesday.
Warren has spent weeks opposing the bill, accusing lawmakers of “greenlighting the grift” over a $2B MGX-Binance deal involving Trump-linked stablecoin USD1.
“For the first time in American history, this bill will make our president—Donald Trump—the regulator of his own financial product,” Warren later said in her Senate speech on Monday.
The latest draft restricts stablecoin activity by senior officials but exempts the president and vice president, an exception Warren says could enable corruption.
O’Leary sees it differently, calling the bill a strategic opportunity to strengthen the dollar’s global role.
This is a digital payment system that establishes the U.S. dollar as a default currency around the world for price discovery on every commodity on earth,” he said. “Why wouldn’t every American want that?”
The entrepreneur warned that Warren’s stance could “stymie American technology” and called the GENIUS Act “a chance to move forward a technology” vital for businesses of all sizes.
Once a vocal Bitcoin skeptic who called it “garbage” in 2019, O’Leary reversed course in 2021, citing institutional adoption, and began actively investing in crypto assets.
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