Circle president Heath Tarbert told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that software agents transacting for people and companies run around the clock, so they need rails “that are fast, programmable, and always on.” Tarbert called a stablecoin framework like the GENIUS Act critical, arguing that without US rules agents would reach for offshore dollar stablecoins backed more loosely, or some other currency could take hold as the unit machines pay in. Rep. Bryan Steil asked whether the smart contracts and settlement triggers governing agent transactions need more work, and Tarbert put the industry in its early innings. Rep. Bill Foster went at identity instead, saying a legally traceable person has to sit behind any agent operating in finance.
