Senate Republicans have faced a grueling process to get the GENIUS Act, their landmark cryptocurrency bill, to a final vote. But Republican lawmakers still think that if they can pass it next week, it will not only be a boon for their party, but pave the way for more legislation.
“We’ve been pretty clear about it, we want America to be the reserve currency of the world in every way,” Sen. Tim Sheehy told NOTUS. “We’re trying to be the most aggressive party in making a crypto framework in America that’s predictable and stable.”
The GENIUS Act is aimed at codifying payments made with stablecoins — a form of cryptocurrency tied to physical assets like the dollar — and at breaking out who has regulation authority over which parts. The bill is expected to arrive on the Senate floor next week for a final vote and could be the first bill regulating digital assets to ever pass the Senate.
The process, however, has been fraught. Republicans have tried to wrangle skeptics from their own party, like Sen. Josh Hawley, but have failed, leaving them at the mercy of Democrats to see their bill through.
While the bill failed once earlier this year on its way to the floor, Republicans are much more optimistic now that it’s finally on track to get a final vote.
“We’ll be moving on to market structure after we get the stablecoin legislation,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty, a sponsor of the bill. He was referring to legislation that could give market regulators, like the Securities Exchange Commission, jurisdiction over digital assets that is left unaddressed by the GENIUS Act. “I think [the GENIUS Act will] move quickly through the House and to the president’s desk. That momentum is something that is going to carry us right into market structure.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville called the bill a “good starting point.”
“We’re not going to get anything done unless we have some regulation on it, so hopefully after stablecoin goes through we can start working on more bills,” Tuberville said.
Sens. Cynthia Lummis, a crypto-friendly senator, is expected to introduce market structure legislation soon. But others in the GOP are skeptical that the Senate will work on more crypto legislation anytime soon.
“Short-term, we’re going to be focused on reconciliation. The next priority after that will have to be appropriation bills and farm bills,” Sen. Pete Ricketts, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, told NOTUS. “So I don’t see anything else coming in the near term.”
Some Republicans said this isn’t a space that they want to touch at all.
“I’m not much for federal regulation of crypto,” Sen. Rand Paul told NOTUS.
Helpful for the Republicans who are eager to see their party lead on this issue is that President Donald Trump is also a major proponent. He gave Congress an August deadline to get major cryptocurrency legislation to his desk. And it’s part of why Republicans in the House are also feeling so optimistic.
And while many Republicans see it as an issue that could become more central to their platform, some disputed that they were the only ones who stood to gain from it.
“It’s very important for not only the Republican Party, but the Democratic Party. It should be a bipartisan innovation agenda at the heart of it, just like artificial intelligence,” said Rep. French Hill, who as chair of the House Financial Services Committee, is one of the leaders working on the House counterpart to the GENIUS Act.
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Samuel Larreal is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.