The House Financial Services Committee is preparing to advance market structure legislation next week, while the Senate is nearing a vote on its stablecoin bill.
Legislative Moves
There’s an expectation that bills are set for voting soon, but key details regarding lawmakers’ requirements for advancing these proposals remain uncertain.
The cryptocurrency sector has awaited regulatory clarity for years, and next week may see several critical steps taken by Congress. Key logistics entail markups by the House Financial Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (referred to as just the Clarity Act) on Tuesday. This markup is expected to conclude with lawmakers voting to advance the bill to the broader House of Representatives. Although there is a chance of failure, it currently seems unlikely.
On the Senate floor, votes on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025 Act (GENIUS) could take place as early as Monday. Senator Ruben Gallego has expressed hopeful expectations for a substantial bipartisan vote in favor of the legislation. It requires 60 votes to clear the second cloture vote and a simple majority afterward to fully pass in the Senate. Following that, the process moves on to the House.
“We’ve worked in a very honest, earnest manner with our Republican colleagues. We think that they’ve been also doing the same, ” he mentioned.
Translation: “We have collaborated sincerely with our counterparts. We believe they have reciprocated in earnest.”
By the end of next week, the House may have both a market structure bill and a stablecoin bill under consideration. However, whether these bills will reach President Trump’s desk by the August recess remains uncertain. There is skepticism among Washington officials regarding the timelines, although stablecoin legislation is likely to clear both chambers by then.
Some possibilities emerging suggest attaching the GENIUS Act from the Senate onto the House’s Clarity Act, enabling a simultaneous vote on both bills before returning to the Senate. Notably, this is merely a suggestion, and there’s likely to be resistance from both House and Senate lawmakers should this approach be taken.
An alternative possibility is that the market structure legislation could extend through the end of the year.
In the backdrop, Democrats have ongoing concerns regarding Trump potentially profiting from his various cryptocurrency ventures. Just this week, Trump’s media firm, Truth Social, applied for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with Yorkville America and NYSE Arca.
