The political division in the US Congress over digital assets seems to be deepening as top Democrats in the House of Representatives have announced their agenda following Republicans’ push to address three crypto-related bills starting on Monday.
In a Friday notice, House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters and the digital assets subcommittee ranking member Stephen Lynch said they would lead Democrats in opposition to Republican efforts to pass what they called “dangerous” legislation.
Republican leaders said earlier this month that they would address bills on payment stablecoins, crypto market structure and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) starting Monday.
“[Republicans are] doubling down by fast-tracking a dangerous package of crypto legislation through Congress,” said Waters. “Aside from lacking urgently needed consumer protections and national security guardrails, these bills would make Congress complicit in Trump’s unprecedented crypto scam.”
With a slim majority in the House, it’s unclear if Republicans will have enough support to pass all three crypto bills in a floor vote, given opposition led by Democrats like Waters and Lynch.
The bill to regulate stablecoins, the GENIUS Act, passed in the Senate after initial opposition from several Democrats, but debate around many pieces of legislation centered on crypto often includes discussions of US President Donald Trump’s crypto ventures.
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“My Republican colleagues are eager to continue doing the bidding for the crypto industry while conveniently ignoring the vulnerabilities and opportunities for abuse that exist in crypto,” said Lynch.
Trump reportedly added about $620 million to his personal portfolio in a matter of months due to his investments in the crypto industry, including his family-backed business World Liberty Financial.
The crypto company has also come under scrutiny for issuing its own stablecoin, USD1, as lawmakers in Congress, likely susceptible to political influence from Trump, consider legislation to regulate the asset.
What are the three crypto bills at issue?
In addition to the GENIUS Act, Republican lawmakers in the House said they would consider the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, a bill to block the development of a US government-issued digital dollar, and the CLARITY Act to establish a digital asset market structure.
On Friday, White House crypto adviser Bo Hines said on X that he expects the chamber to pass the GENIUS Act without any amendments or provisions, fast-tracking the bill to the president’s desk.
The efforts to pass a crypto market structure bill, however, seem to be shifting to the Senate. In June, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, Hines and Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said the chamber would work toward drafting, introducing and passing a bill by Sept. 30, before the House announced its “crypto week” plans for the CLARITY Act.
“This will be our best draft of a market structure bill that’s been debated in the House […] since 2023,” said House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill on a Friday release of the Thinking Crypto podcast:
“We’ll vote on it in the House. It will go to the Senate and then we’re looking to Senator Scott, Senator Lummis, Senator Gillibrand, Senator Hagerty and others to put their views about market structure [out].”
A market structure bill would likely clarify the roles significant US financial regulators would have over digital assets, specifically the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The proposed bill in the House suggested giving more authority to the CFTC for the registration and regulation of digital assets.
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