Long-Awaited U.S. Stablecoin Bill Takes Big Step Despite Fight From Democrats, White House

Nothing like a little drama. The end of the week in DC House lawmakers cleared stable coin legislation for the next step in its route through Congress late last night, but it didn't go off without a hitch. Joining us. Now to discuss is Coindesk global policy and regulation. Managing editor Nick Day, who is also the editor of the world's most important newsletter. State of Crypto. Happy Friday. Nick. Good morning, good morning. Happy Friday. Uh Well, happy for some. But what is this? I can't believe Patrick mchenry is getting into uh a battle with Maxine. What's come on, what's going on? It was like, it was Cat Canary, a mutual love society. It was like amazing. And then all of a sudden, huh? Well, there was a bit of finger pointing, right? So yesterday was the market for the Stable Queen Bill and the House Financial Services Committee, meaning the bill uh was basically looking at amendments, lawmakers are weighing in and uh then voted on it last night. At the outset of the hearing. Congressman Henry said that uh negotiations had been ongoing but that the White House had halted or you know, refused to compromise and you know, thereby the negotiations were halted. The bill was no longer a bipartisan one. congresswoman waters pushed back a little later saying that, you know, they could give God to the finish line to have more time. Um There was also, you know, quite a bit of drama later on on the floor itself. Congressman Stephen Lynch of Florida said that, you know, the bill was being rushed and that Democrats had not had a chance to, you know, properly weigh in and provide amendments that they wanted to share. Um you know, the kind of the, the central point underlying all of this seemed to be that, you know, democrat view was if the bill came up to a vote later, you know, in September, after the August recess, it would have a greater chance of passing a bipartisan support. Congress. Uh Congressman mchenry's view seemed to be that, you know, it's been dragging on long enough, it's time to get to a vote. And so last night they voted, it was a uh you know, 36 14 vote in favor of advancing the bill. Uh five Democrats joined the Republicans in advancing it. But um you know, obviously it was not a, you know, a fully bipartisan victory. Yeah, we thought this was gonna be uh all friends. Uh you know, it was, it was like a big love fest for, for, they described it seriously, everyone was singing Kumba. Yeah, it was, it was, it was like Woodstock. Yeah, for the longest time, I suppose it's seen as a bipartisan joint effort by, uh the leaders of, you know, the parties and the committee. Uh, Nick, amongst all the drama with the Stable Coin Bill, three other bills were advanced. Tell us, are we gonna get some regulatory clarity in the near future? Well, I, obviously that's still, I would say the big question now that the bills are passed at the committee, what's gonna happen is they're gonna have to go through the entire House of Representatives. Um, given that these are, uh, you know, all bills that are sponsored or cosponsored by Republicans. My personal guess is that the House is more likely than not to advance them. The Senate is kind of the bigger question. A lot of these bills don't have counterparts in the Senate at this point. So if the House refers them, we're going to basically start from scratching the whole process. Um, and, you know, so far the Senate seems to be kind of focused on, you know, some of these larger must pass bills, for example, the National Defense Authorization Act that it passed last night. But it's unclear to me at this point if there is sufficient support in the Senate for any of the bills that have passed out of committee this week. Um, you know, certainly we're not yet at the stage where I don't think anyone could say with any confidence that um you know, these bills are even being looked at or, you know, well analyzed at this point by senators. All right, Nick, we got to leave it there. It was wonderful seeing you this morning. So, is Coindesk global policy and regulation managing editor Nick Day. Don't forget to sign up for the state of crypto newsletter on Coindesk dot com.