SEC chair Paul Atkins, crypto industry cheer House passage of stablecoin and digital asset bills

Cryptocurrency advocates, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins, and others voiced enthusiasm, delight, and optimism after the passage of three cryptocurrency bills in the U.S. House of Representatives, including measures regulating stablecoins and the industry at large.

"With this trio of votes, Congress has sent a clear message: the United States is ready to lead in digital finance through thoughtful, bipartisan policymaking," said Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger in a statement. 

The U.S. House voted for three bills on Thursday after a long week of starts and stops. Lawmakers voted 294-134 to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which takes a whole-of-crypto approach to regulating the industry. The act would create a regulatory framework for crypto, in part, by designating how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will regulate. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Seventy-eight Democrats voted to pass the Clarity bill. 

Lawmakers also passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, by a 308-122 vote. The bill would require stablecoins to be fully backed by U.S. dollars or similarly liquid assets, mandate annual audits for issuers with a market capitalization exceeding $50 billion, and establish guidelines for foreign issuance. That bill is likely to be at Trump's desk before the end of the week, where he is expected to sign it into law. 

More than 100 Democrats voted for the GENIUS Act.

"Huge bipartisan turnout to advance stablecoins AND market structure in the House!" said Emilie Choi, president at Coinbase, in a post on X. "This is a giant step toward cementing America’s dominance in crypto and tech innovation broadly." 

Republican Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott said passage of GENIUS marked a "major milestone."

"The GENIUS Act marks a major milestone in securing America’s leadership in payments innovation while protecting consumers and strengthening our national security," Scott said in a statement. "This bill is critical to delivering on President Trump’s agenda to cement the United States as the crypto capital of the world, and I look forward to taking a similar approach to get digital asset market structure legislation signed into law."

Lastly, House lawmakers passed the Anti-Central Bank Digital Currency Act 219-210. The bill would block the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency directly to individuals. A CBDC is a digital form of fiat money, directly issued and regulated by a country's central bank. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has also said the central bank won't issue a CBDC without congressional approval. 

“The House vote to restrict central bank digital currency deployment is a strong affirmation of core American values: privacy, market competition, and individual financial freedom,” said the Blockchain Association's Mersinger. “The private sector is leading in responsible digital asset development — and this vote ensures that the U.S. government remains a steward, not a competitor, in the evolution of financial infrastructure.”

This all comes after a few dramatic procedural votes that set the stage for final passage. The sticking point had been the CDBC provision and whether it would be sent over as a standalone bill to the Senate. 

Later, President Trump spoke with lawmakers on Tuesday night to discuss the bills. During those talks, an understanding was reached that the CBDC ban would be incorporated into the Clarity Act, Rep. Tom Emmer said, R-Minn., told The Block, noting that key House leadership had not been present at that meeting and were opposed to the measure. 

SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who was tapped by Trump to lead the agency, said GENIUS provides "clear rules of the road," in a statement on Thursday. 

"Over the coming months and years, I look forward to watching the market leverage the regulatory framework provided by the GENIUS Act to go to market with payment stablecoins solutions that make transactions quicker, cheaper, and safer—all while maintaining robust risk safeguards," Atkins said. 

Ahead of the votes on Thursday, some House Democrats pushed against the bill. Many have had concerns over Trump's involvement with digital assets. Bloomberg has estimated that the president and his family have earned roughly $620 million from their crypto ventures, including the World Liberty Financial project, the TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins, and a 20% stake in American Bitcoin, a mining firm expected to go public.

"If we do not ban elected officials, including the President or Vice President, from this crypto corruption in H.R. 3633 [Clarity], each of us will be complicit," said top Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters on the House floor ahead of the votes.

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