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As a landmark cryptocurrency bill nears a floor vote, the House speaker on digital assets sees a path forward
This past July was a watershed moment for the cryptocurrency industry in DC, as the House Financial Services Committee advanced two pieces of legislation:a stablecoin note it’s a market structure bill– promising a full vote coming soon. Instead, politics got in the way, with the campaign of a renegade group of Republican representatives pushing for a new speaker, along with a slew of spending bills and global crises, delaying the historic poll by nearly a year.
That’s set to change next week, when the full House plans to vote on the market structure bill, known as FIT21, which now has House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C. ) as a cosponsor and includes a number of new provisions. , including specifics on when a cryptocurrency should be treaty as security. Yesterday I met with Congressman French Hill (R-Ark.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets and a candidate take over the entire committee when McHenry retires this year, to find out whether FIT21 has any chance of becoming law.
The House already has a strong base of crypto-sympathetic representatives, including Richie Torres (DN.Y.), who have voted in favor of a number of bills, including a recent one to repeal unpopular SEC guidance that likely go first in the Senate today or tomorrow. The Senate is a different matter, with advocates including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) advocating a firm stance against digital assets. So while FIT21 will likely exit the House, it will face an obstacle in the upper house.
“I don’t think we’re going to take any legislative strategies off the table,” Hill told me, arguing that FIT21 could become part of other authorization bills that come to Congress, such as the farm bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, or the bills of spending during the lame duck session after the November election. While the Senate has done more recent work on stablecoin legislation, Hill said FIT21 more adequately addresses how financial regulators should treat cryptocurrencies. “I think all of this could come together effectively,” she told Fortune.
Despite the optimism, any ambitious bill that doesn’t target TikTok has a strong chance of passing both houses. Even with bipartisan enthusiasm for a recent stablecoin deal in the Senate last month, there’s talk vanished, and McHenry and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, have yet to reach an agreement in the House, which is why of the two bills voted out of committee last July it only FIT21 was presented. . While a successful floor vote next week – Hill said likely Wednesday or Thursday – will be a symbolic victory, it is unlikely to lead to actual legislation.
Instead, cryptocurrencies are increasingly becoming a flashpoint, with former President Donald Trump announcing his embrace of the industry at an event last week. Hill said he wasn’t surprised to see the move. “President Trump is a skilled politician,” Hill told me. “When some members of the other political party say they are against it, you sometimes find him, after doing his homework, positioning himself in opposition.”
“I think it’s important for Republicans to stay on the right side of history,” Hill added.
Leo Schwartz
leo.schwartz@fortune.com
@leomschwartz
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