Online Reporter
Congress delivered a watershed victory for the crypto industry on Thursday, passing the first federal legislation to regulate stablecoins and clearing the way for broader use of the technology in everyday finance.
Backed by Republicans and championed by President Donald Trump, the bill imposes federal or state oversight on dollar-linked tokens that can move around the clock and across platforms.
Supporters say it could unlock faster, cheaper forms of payments, and bring legitimacy to a US$265 billion market that Citigroup Inc. analysts expect could swell to US$3,7 trillion by 2030.
The measure, which passed the House 308-122 with broad bipartisan support after clearing the Senate, is now on track to become law. Trump personally lobbied Republican lawmakers to support it.
The legislation marks a political coming-of-age for the digital assets industry, which rebounded from the confidence-rattling collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto exchange less than three years ago to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the election last year of friendly lawmakers.
The stablecoin bill is the centrepiece of a legislative push Trump has dubbed “Crypto Week.” Earlier Thursday, the House also passed a broad crypto market structure bill that still has to be considered by the Senate. Democratic critics such as Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Maxine Waters warned the new stablecoin regulatory regime won’t do enough to protect consumers and could lead to pressure for government bailouts if issuers of the digital tokens fail.
But the nation’s most influential bankers are already grappling with the challenge the new measure is likely to accelerate. — Bloomberg
