The Senate passed legislation on Tuesday Adjust a cryptocurrency form The industry hopes to be called Stablecoins, the first wave of enhancing its legitimacy and reassuring consumer bills.
The fast-growing legislation, passed by 68 to 30, will be sent to the House for potential revisions, following the 2024 campaign cycle, where the cryptocurrency industry ranks. Top political spenders In the country, stress Its influence continues to grow in Washington and beyond.
eighteen Democratic Senator Crossing the aisle, voted for the legislation Tuesday, with a Republican majority in the 53-47 Senate. Republican Josh Hawley and Rand Paul are the only members of the party who oppose the measure.
This is the second major bipartisan bill, after this year, passed the Senate this year Lake Riley Act Immigration law enforcement in January.
Still, most Democrats oppose the bill. They have raised concerns that the measure would not help President Donald Trump’s personal financial interests in the cryptocurrency space.
Monday, D-Md. “We certainly can’t include everything we want, but it’s a good bipartisan effort,” said Senator Angela Alsobrooks. “This is an unregulated area and will be regulated now,” added Alsobrooks, co-sponsor of the bill.
Senator Bill Hagerty, the sponsor of the bill, said upstairs in the Senate before the vote that legislation would have a “distant impact” on the financial system, a “paradigm shift development” he believes bringing it into the 21st century.
“With this bill, the U.S. is closer to becoming a global leader in crypto,” Hagerty said.
The bill, known as the Genius Act, will establish guardrails and consumer protections for Stablecoins, a cryptocurrency that is often pegged to the dollar. The acronym stands for “Guide and build national innovation for stable America.”
The bill only needed a simple majority vote to pass after clearing its biggest procedural barriers last week by 68 to 30, while 18 Democrats were with Republicans. But the bill’s resistance is higher than initially expected.
Trump’s stake in cryptocurrency
There is a provision in the bill that prohibits members of Congress and their families from profiting from Stablecoins. But even if Trump established a crypto empire from the White House, the ban did not extend to the president and his family.
Last month, the Republican president held a private dinner at his golf club in Virginia, with top investors in the Trump-branded meme coins. His family owns important shares World Free FinanceThis is a crypto project that launched its own Stablecoin, USD1.
According to a public financial disclosure released Friday, Trump reported that he earned $57.35 million in token sales in 2024. The meme coins associated with him are estimated to incur $320 million in fees, although the proceeds are distributed among multiple investors.
The government supports the growth of cryptocurrencies and its integration into the economy widely. The vote was ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the Senate to pass the bill, saying it could help Stablecoins “to reach a $3.7 trillion market by the end of the decade.”
Brian Armstrong, CEO Common cases – the country’s largest crypto exchange and the bill’s main advocate – met with Trump and praised his early actions on cryptocurrencies. Over the past weekend, Coinbase was one of the more prominent brands to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary in Washington, an event that coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.
But the cryptocurrency industry stressed that they viewed legislative efforts as bipartisans, pointing out advocates on both sides of the aisle.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (RSS C.) “It’s a product of months of bipartisan work.”
Some Democrats object
The bill did get into a tough situation in early May, when a group of Senate Democrats previously supported the bill to turn the course and voted to stop it from moving forward. This prompted Senate Republicans, Democrats and the White House to engage in new talks, eventually producing a compromised version that won the passage on Tuesday.
Alsobrooks said there were “a lot of changes” in the negotiations, “and it was a better option because we were all on the table.”
Before Tuesday’s vote, UN Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said her legislation on stability was “okay” after negotiations.
“I’m not excited about it, but that’s OK,” said Loomis, one of the bill’s co-sponsors.
Nevertheless, the bill remains concerned that the president’s conflict of interest remains unresolved – a problem that remains the source of tensions within the Democratic Caucus.
“The Genius Act passes, there are no strong anti-corruption measures that stamp Congress’ seal of approval for President Trump to sell the government’s personal profits,” Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley said in a statement after the bill passed.
D-Mass. Senator Elizabeth Warren has been one of the most outspoken members of the Senate Banking Committee, warning that the bill created a “super highway” for Trump’s corruption. She also warned that the bill would allow large tech companies Amazon and Yuanlaunch your own stablecoin.
The Democrat who supported the bill was first Senator Elissa Slotkin, who received $10 million in support from the Crypto Political Action Committee in a Michigan game last year. Slotkin acknowledged the bill was “not perfect” but called it a “good intention, a bipartisan starting point” to regulate Stablecoins.
Stablecoin legislation still faces several obstacles before reaching the president’s desk. It must clear the narrow Republican majority in the House, and lawmakers may try to bring a broader market structure bill that could make the Senate pass more difficult legislation.
Trump said he hopes to legislate at his desk before Congress takes a break for his August recess (now only 50 days away, he is)
