The House Financial Services Committee might mark up market structure legislation next week, while the Senate seems close to passing its stablecoin bill.
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The narrative
Here’s what’s clear: There are bills and they will probably get votes next week. Here’s what’s unclear: What all lawmakers might need to get enough votes to actually advance these bills, and if they’re there already or not.
Why it matters
The crypto industry has waited for years for Congress to pass legislation giving it some sort of regulatory clarity. Congress has taken a number of key steps this year already, but next week might see quite a few of these steps happen.
Breaking it down
Logistical details first. There will be markups in the House Financial Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee on the market structure bill, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (otherwise known as just the Clarity Act) on Tuesday. That markup will likely end with lawmakers voting to advance the bill to the broader House of Representatives (it’s possible the vote will fail, but it currently seems unlikely).
On the Senate side, lawmakers might hold a series of votes as early as Monday on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025 Act (otherwise known as GENIUS) to advance it. Senator Ruben Gallego, the Arizona Democrat who spearheaded a pause in the bill’s advancement, said in an interview on Thursday that he expects a massive bipartisan vote in favor of the legislation. It’ll need 60 votes to clear cloture (this is a second cloture vote) and a simple majority afterward to pass the Senate entirely. After that, it’s 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 said. “They adopted a lot of the amendments, most of the amendments that we’re we’ve been adding, and they’ve been continuing to work with some other Democrats who have some other concerns, but we believe that if all the changes are made, it’s going to be a very solid, comprehensive bill that I think we could all be proud to vote for.”
In other words, by the end of next week it’s possible the House of Representatives will have both a market structure bill to consider, amend and vote on and a stablecoin bill (the House Financial Services Committee version of GENIUS, the STABLE Act, already passed out of that committee a while ago).
Whether both bills will make it to U.S. President Donald Trump’s desk by the August recess is an open question. Policymakers in Washington, D.C. this week seemed skeptical that both bills would be passed by that deadline, though stablecoin legislation is likely to clear the House and Senate by then.
One theory flying around is that the GENIUS Act in the Senate might get tagged onto the House’s Clarity Act, letting the House vote on both its market structure bill and stablecoin bill at once and sending both back to the Senate. To be clear, this isn’t a firm plan, just something various individuals have suggested is a possibility. However, I’ve heard that there will likely be pushback from both House and Senate lawmakers should this path be pursued.
The other, more likely possibility seems to be that market structure legislation will just take longer — perhaps through the end of the year.
This is despite Democrats’ ongoing concerns that Trump is enriching himself through his various crypto ventures. Just this week, Trump’s media firm, Truth Social, filed for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with Yorkville America and NYSE Arca. Assuming this product is approved, it’ll open another avenue for a Trump-affiliated entity to benefit from interest in the industry.
Further reading from this week:
Trump’s Crypto Ties at Forefront as U.S. Lawmakers Weigh Crypto Market Structure Bill
Senate Stablecoin Bill Likely to Win Massive Bipartisan Support, Dem Lawmaker Says
House Dems Get Bonus Hearing on Crypto Market Structure, Assail Trump Conflicts
- Circle Shares Surge on NYSE Debut, Signalling Strong Appetite for Stablecoin Issuers: Circle went public, with shares initially trading at $69 but surging to $100 after initially being priced at $31. Shares closed at $83 on Thursday.
- Trump’s Truth Social Takes Next Step in Launching Spot Bitcoin ETF: NYSE Arca and Yorkville America Digital in partnership with Trump Media filed for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund called the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF, with Crypto.com’s Foris DAX Trust Company as the custodian. Both the 19b-4 and S-1 documents have been submitted, meaning as soon as the Securities and Exchange Commission acknowledges the filings, the 240-day clock is on.
- Trump’s Team ‘Knows Nothing’ About Apparent ‘$TRUMP Wallet’ Launch: Get Trump Memes plans to launch a TRUMP crypto wallet in partnership with Magic Eden, but President Donald Trump’s kids say they don’t know anything about it. World Liberty Financial, the Trump-linked project that does other crypto stuff, also plans to issue a wallet, and reportedly sent a cease-and-desist to Magic Eden.
- France Charges 25 People, Including 6 Minors, in Crypto Kidnapping Cases: French authorities arrested 25 different people tied to kidnapping attempts of various crypto executives and their family members.
- Suspect in French Crypto Kidnappings Arrested in Morocco: The group of 25 individuals allegedly had a ringleader who Moroccan police arrested.
- Dems Say They’re Blocked From Info on Verge of Crypto Market Structure Bill Hearings: House Financial Services Committee Democrats say they haven’t gotten much technical assistance from regulators on the Clarity Act.
- U.S. Seizes Darknet, Internet Domains, Crypto Funds Tied to Illegal Trading in Credit Card Data: U.S. authorities seized 145 darknet and internet domains tied to a market called BidenCash.
- MoonPay Grabs Coveted BitLicense Approval In New York: Very straightforward here.
Tuesday
- 17:00 UTC (1:00 p.m. ET) House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill said the House and Senate’s respective stablecoin bills are close but need some work to be fully aligned with each other.
Wednesday
- 14:00 UTC (10:00 a.m. ET) The House Financial Services Committee and House Agriculture Committee each held a hearing to discuss the Clarity Act, the new House market structure bill.
Friday
- 13:00 UTC (9:00 a.m. ET) Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee held another hearing focused on President Donald Trump’s crypto tie-ups, as well as the market structure bill introduced by House Republicans last week. (It’s not on the calendar above because I am on the road this week and the calendar was made before the hearing was announced).
- (AP News) President Donald Trump and Elon Musk had a very public social media spat on Wednesday and Thursday.
If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at nik@coindesk.com or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.
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See ya’ll next week!
