The top Democrat on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee has told Bloomberg that a stablecoin bill could be ready soon.
The latest development strengthens hopes that the U.S. can get a new stablecoin law this year, before the elections, considered a longshot at the start of the year.
U.S. House Representative Maxine Waters (D-California) indicated that the final version of the stablecoin bill could be ready soon. “We are on our way to getting a stablecoin bill in the short run,” the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
Waters has previously called a version of the stablecoin bill “deeply problematic and bad for America.“
“It’s about making sure investors and that the people are protected,” Waters told Bloomberg. “We have to ensure that they have those assets to back up stablecoins,” she said.
The latest development strengthens hopes that the U.S. can get a new stablecoin law before the elections this year, which was considered a longshot at the start of the year.
Congressional movement, both in the Senate and the House, on stablecoin legislation picked up pace in the past few weeks. Waters said that the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the White House have all had input in crafting the bill, the report said.
Waters and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who have been negotiating for 22 months, reportedly met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to get the legislation moving by tying it to a must-pass Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization due next month.
Last week, in the Senate, U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a new stablecoin bill, which proposed a ban on algorithmic stablecoins and required tokens of issuers to be fully backed by reserve assets.
Waters also told Bloomberg that she has discussed stablecoins with the Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown. Earlier this month, Brown told Bloomberg he was open to advancing the stablecoins legislation.
A marijuana banking bill could also be paired with the stablecoin legislation. Brown’s committee has advanced the marijuana legislation but it could face opposition from Republican leader Mitch McConnell. However, Waters said she was hopeful of overcoming that resistance if it were to come.
In March, McHenry said the stablecoin bill is largely worked out in the Republican-controlled House and just needs a scheduled floor vote.
