[WASHINGTON] The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives cleared key procedural hurdles on crypto legislation on Wednesday (Jul 16), a day after US President Donald Trump intervened to save the initiative, paving the way for the first federal law for digital assets.
The votes came after more than nine hours of private talks as leaders worked to win over lawmakers sceptical of how the package was structured.
A bill to establish a federal framework for stablecoins is likely to be the first to be passed, in what would be a watershed victory for the crypto industry.
It has already been approved by the Senate, and if approved by the House, it would go to Trump for his signature.
Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 US dollar peg, are commonly used by crypto traders to move funds. They have gained much momentum in recent years, offering faster and cheaper transaction costs than moving money through a bank.
In addition to stablecoins, the House is set to consider a bill to establish market structure rules for crypto products, including defining when the products are a commodity and not subject to oversight from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Senate has yet to take up a similar measure.
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The third bill, strongly backed by conservatives, would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital currency of its own. Some Republicans argue a Fed digital currency could give the government too much control over Americans’ finances. Current Fed leaders have said they are not considering such an initiative.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said on X late on Wednesday that the third bill would be attached to a separate defence authorisation bill as part of the overall compromise.
House Republicans had suffered a setback in their bid to advance the bills on Tuesday, when several conservative Republicans joined with Democrats to block an earlier procedural vote. But Trump met with the holdouts and paved the way for another vote on Wednesday.
Even after those talks, subsequent procedural votes required to consider the legislation proved fraught, as Republican leaders had to spend several hours convincing conservative lawmakers to allow the bills to proceed. A handful of members had resisted efforts to consider the three main pieces of crypto legislation separately. REUTERS