The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to create a regulatory framework for U.S.-dollar-pegged cryptocurrency tokens known as stablecoins, sending the bill to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law.
The vote marks a watershed moment for the digital asset industry, which has been pushing for federal legislation for years and poured money into last year’s elections to promote pro-crypto candidates.
US House Passes Stablecoin Legislation, Sending Bill To Trump
The US House of Representatives is closing the proclaimed Crypto Week with a bang, passing three monumental digital asset regulation bills.
Last Thursday, on a vote of 206-102, the Republican-led U.S. House passed the GENIUS Act, sending the country’s first crypto-specific regulations bill to the desk of the sitting President.
GENIUS is an acronym meaning “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins.” The bill purports to seek to improve consumer protection, transparency, marketing restrictions and regulatory oversight for the burgeoning stablecoin market, estimated to be worth $250 billion.
If signed into law, the stablecoin bill would require tokens to be backed by liquid assets – such as U.S. dollars and short-term Treasury bills – and for issuers to publicly disclose the composition of their reserves on a monthly basis.
Blockchain Association CEO and former Commodity Futures Trading Commission official Summer Mersinger described Thursday’s votes as a “defining moment in the evolution of U.S. digital asset policy.”
Two Other Bills Passed – CLARITY and Anti-CBDC Surveillance
Furthermore, the House passed the CLARITY and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Acts by similar margins, sending both bills to the Senate for further consideration.
The Clarity Act, which passed 294-134, would critically define when a cryptocurrency is a security or a commodity and clarify the Securities and Exchange Commission’s jurisdiction over the sector, something crypto companies aggressively disputed during the Biden administration.
Crypto companies have argued that most tokens should be classified as commodities instead of securities, which would enable platforms to more easily offer those tokens to their customers by not having to comply with a raft of securities laws.
That bill would need to pass through the Senate before heading to Trump’s desk for final approval.
Some Democrats fiercely opposed the Clarity Act, arguing it could be a giveaway to Trump’s crypto ventures by enabling softer-touch regulation.
The House also passed the Anti-CBDC Act bill prohibiting a central bank digital currency, which Republicans say could violate Americans’ privacy. The issue had been a sticking point in House discussions this week. The Anti-CBDC Act would prohibit Fed banks from issuing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Though the GENIUS Act easily passed the House, prominent Republican Senator Josh Hawley has been vocal and adamant in breaking party lines on the bill, urging his fellow Republicans to vote against it.
“It’s a huge giveaway to Big Tech.
It allows these tech companies to issue stablecoins without any kind of controls. I don’t see why we would do that.”
Trump is expected to sign the GENIUS Act into law soon.
Previous Attempts To Regulate Stablecoin
The House of Representatives passed a stablecoin bill last year, but the Senate – in which Democrats held the majority at the time – did not take up that bill.
