My colleague and Reg Team Deputy Managing Editor Jesse Hamilton reported late last week that the House Financial Services Committee’s (FSC) anticipated stablecoin bill may not actually be introduced, let alone passed, ahead of November’s midterm elections.
From his article:
“A legislative push toward the crypto industry’s first significant set of U.S. regulations remains bogged down over negotiations between the panel’s Democratic chairwoman and its ranking Republican, despite initial plans that aimed to release a draft of the bill as early as this week, according to three people familiar with the talks. There have been a number of points to iron out, including such thorny topics as the role of state regulators, the possibility of a future digital dollar in the U.S. and the treatment of customer money held by crypto platforms.”
That being said, the bill isn’t dead. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who chairs the committee, and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who is the ranking member, are the lead negotiators on this effort, and they’re both coming back in the new year (though it’s possible their titles will be swapped).
Of course, as I was writing this the new FSC hearing schedule for September came out, saying there may, in fact, be a markup for stablecoin legislation sometime this month, though “date and time TBD,” so all is not yet lost.
Stablecoins have always gotten a fair amount of interest, but as a regulatory issue this seems to continue to be the area lawmakers will tackle before getting to other issues such as whether a law is needed to treat crypto trading platforms similarly to national securities exchanges.
The problem is, timing-wise anyway, that the House is only one body. A bill needs to be passed by both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to become a law, meaning every minute counts.
Right now Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), the ranking member in the Senate Banking Committee, is at a guess the most likely lawmaker in the upper house to introduce a similar bill –if the House passes, or at least advances, the Waters-McHenry effort. He’s also retiring from public office after this year, to be replaced either by current Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman or former cardiothoracic surgeon and TV personality Mehmet Oz.
I’m not sure who might succeed Toomey as ranking member, but this bill is likely going to take some time to get through the Senate regardless.
