The Senate Banking Committee voted Thursday to advanced legislation to create a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
The movement on the GENIUS Act marks a key win for the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers, who have set their sights on quickly passing stablecoin and cryptocurrency market structure legislation this Congress.
“For far too long, the absence of a regulatory framework for stablecoins has left consumers vulnerable, businesses in the dark, and stifled innovation here at home,” Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in a statement.
“Today’s historic passage of the GENIUS Act — the first digital asset legislation to advance in the Senate — is a step forward in ensuring stablecoins are safe and reliable tools in the financial system,” he continued.
Five Democrats on the panel — Sens. Mark Warner (Va.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.) and Angela Alsobrooks (Md.) — joined their Republican colleagues in voting to advance Sen. Bill Hagerty’s (R-Tenn.) stablecoin bill.
The bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration. While the lower chamber has yet to move on any crypto-related legislation, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on stablecoins Tuesday.
The crypto industry cheered the Senate Banking vote Thursday, with Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith calling it a “step in the right direction.”
“Crypto is nonpartisan — and today’s strong bipartisan vote makes clear that all of Washington, both sides of the aisle, are committed to ensuring the future of stablecoin and crypto innovation is encouraged and built right here in the United States,” Smith said in a statement.
President Trump has embraced crypto in his second term. He hosted industry leaders at the White House for a summit Friday, where he emphasized that his administration is “working to end the federal bureaucracy war on crypto.”
The president also signed an executive order to establish a bitcoin reserve and a separate digital asset stockpile last Thursday.
