President Trump signed the first major cryptocurrency bill into law Friday, marking a key milestone for an industry that has found a crucial ally in the president.
He touted the GENIUS Act, which establishes a regulatory framework for dollar-backed digital tokens called stablecoins, as “a giant step to cement the American dominance of global finance and crypto technology.”
“This could be perhaps the greatest revolution in financial technology since the birth of the internet itself,” he said at the signing ceremony, flanked by congressional and industry leaders.
The stablecoin bill faced a lengthy and sometimes halting path to the White House.
After sailing through the Senate Banking Committee earlier this year, the GENIUS Act — Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins ACT — hit its first snag in the upper chamber in May, when a group of crypto-friendly Democrats pulled their support from the legislation and blocked a procedural vote on the floor.
Several weeks of negotiations produced an updated version of the bill that won back support from most of the crypto-friendly contingent on the left.
After initially promising an open amendment process, GOP leadership scrapped plans to move the bill via so-called regular order when several controversial amendments threatened to derail progress. The GENIUS Act ultimately passed the Senate by a 68-30 vote in late June.
Trump, who has become a key ally to the crypto industry in his second term, urged the House to quickly pass a “clean” stablecoin bill and send it to his desk.
The president’s request frustrated efforts by some in the House who had hoped to tie the GENIUS Act to a broader crypto framework, allowing the lower chamber to put its stamp on legislation and preventing additional crypto legislation from losing momentum.
House leadership ultimately opted to move the GENUIS Act to the floor alongside two other crypto bills without formally tying them together in what it labeled “crypto week.”
However, crypto week proved much more tumultuous than expected. A group of hardline Republicans blocked a procedural vote Tuesday, bringing the House floor to a standstill and leaving the trio of crypto bills in limbo.
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News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
How Sam Altman outfoxed Elon Musk to become Trump’s AI buddy (Wall Street Journal)
Meta says it won’t sign EU’s AI code, calling it overreach (Bloomberg)
In Other News
Branch out with other reads on The Hill:
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