A year ago, the idea of clear digital asset legislation in the United States felt distant. Today, it is suddenly at the center of major conversations in Washington.
According to Lee Schneider, the general counsel of Ava Labs, the industry is witnessing a regulatory shift that is both overdue and accelerating. Ava Labs is the team dedicated to advancing the adoption and scalability of the Avalanche ecosystem.
Schneider joined Jackson Hinkle on TheStreet Roundtable to discuss how his role has evolved in this new environment and why he believes the next several months could set the tone for the entire sector.
“It has definitely been an exciting year. This has a lot to do with the Genius Act passing and getting signed by the president. I was lucky enough to get to go to the White House for the signing ceremony which was totally cool.” Schneider began.
Related: America’s crypto industry continues to struggle through regulatory environment
The GENIUS Act established a national framework for stablecoin oversight and has become the foundation for broader crypto legislation in the U.S.
Now that it is law, Congress is shifting to what Schneider called “phase two,” the creation of a comprehensive market structure bill.
“Stablecoins are sort of phase one. And now we are working on phase two which is market structure,” he explained.
“The House has passed the Clarity Act. The Senate both the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Ag Committee are working on their respective bills. So we expect to see some good movement later this month or sometime in January.”
Schneider noted that Ava Labs has been directly engaged in discussions with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
“I have been spending a lot of time talking with offices in the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, both banking and Ag,” he said.
His goal is simple but crucial.
“Just trying to make sure that we understand what they are saying, what their intentions are, and trying to make some comments to tweak things to try to make them function more smoothly.”
For an industry that has long operated under uncertainty, the emergence of actual legislative clarity marks a turning point.
Real adoption requires real rules, and now, after years of silence, Washington finally appears ready to write them.
Related: Wall Street’s GENIUS Act could spell trouble for the largest stablecoin issuer
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 19, 2025, where it first appeared in the Policy section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.