🤯Senate STABLECOIN Shocker!🤯

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Ah, the US Senators! 🎭 Ever the diligent scribes, they gather once more, poised to cast their votes upon the stablecoin bill, a creature of much anticipation—and recent failure, mind you. Like a stubborn samovar that refuses to boil, it returns, dusted off and slightly altered. The bill, you see, has endured the slings and arrows of Senate Democrats, their support wavering like a drunkard’s steps. But fear not! Bipartisan hands have stirred the pot, adding amendments as one might add spices to a borscht, hoping to coax it into palatable existence in the coming weeks. Will it work? Only the babushkas know! 👵

Stablecoin Bill: A Second Dance with Cloture, or Just Tripping Over Its Own Feet? 💃

A mere week after its ignominious defeat in the US Senate, Senator John Thune—bless his persistent soul—has resurrected the amended Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. A name so grand, it could only be conceived in the hallowed halls of bureaucracy! 🏛️ This act, apparently, is now primed for a second cloture motion, a parliamentary maneuver as thrilling as watching paint dry. Bipartisan efforts, they say, have breathed new life into this legislative beast. But will it rise from the ashes, or simply collapse in a heap of regulatory rubble? 🤔

Stablecoin Bill Visual

This bill, the brainchild of Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, stumbled and fell on May 8, failing to secure the necessary votes. Like a troupe of clowns juggling too many crypto tokens, several lawmakers—including two Republicans!—withdrew their support just before the curtain rose. 🤡

To be precise, this stablecoin legislation garnered a measly 49 favorable votes, a far cry from the 60 required to propel it into the open floor debate, where it could truly embarrass itself. Before this recent fiasco, the GENIUS Act was hailed as a bipartisan beacon of regulatory clarity, with Senate Democrats lining up to offer their support. Oh, how quickly fortunes turn! 🔄

Amendments aplenty were thrown into the mix, all in a desperate attempt to placate the Democratic senators, who apparently suffer from a surfeit of concerns. Stricter requirements for stablecoin issuers! Anti-Money Laundering (AML) provisions! All the bells and whistles! 🎉 Yet, in a scathing opposition statement, ten senators—including four Democrats who had previously sung its praises—decried the revised version. A betrayal most foul! 😠

These lawmakers, with their furrowed brows and grave pronouncements, suggested that the draft was missing crucial AML and national security safeguards. They warned of ambiguous regulations that could expose crypto markets to exploitation, like leaving the henhouse door open for the fox. 🦊 And thus, it failed. A tragedy in three acts! 🎭

But wait! Journalist and podcast maven Eleanor Terret, ever the diligent chronicler of such affairs, reports that Senator Thune has, with the audacity of a chess grandmaster, filed for a second cloture motion on May 15. A vote is scheduled for Monday evening, after yet more amendments have been tacked on, like ornaments on a particularly sad Christmas tree. 🎄

Bipartisan Amendments: Enough to Save the Day, or Just a Bandaid on a Bullet Wound? 🤕

As your humble narrator at Bitcoinist has previously reported, the US senators from both sides of the aisle have been toiling tirelessly to “quickly revive” the stablecoin legislation, like frantic doctors attempting to resuscitate a particularly stubborn corpse. 🧟

Senator Hagerty, the bill’s weary sponsor, recently confided to Bloomberg that staff from both parties have continued toiling on the GENIUS Act, like diligent ants hauling crumbs to the anthill. He harbors the faint hope that Senate Democrats might agree to pass the bill before the Memorial Day holiday, a deadline as arbitrary as it is optimistic. 🤞

The latest bipartisan amended version of the stablecoin legislation—a true Frankenstein’s monster of regulatory text—reportedly includes new language concerning consumer protection, ethics, and limitations on Big Tech issuers, among other provisions. A veritable smorgasbord of legislative delights! 🍽️

According to a draft page shared by the aforementioned Eleanor Terret, the bill now forbids non-financial publicly traded companies—such as Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft—from issuing a stablecoin unless they adhere to strict criteria related to financial risks, consumer data, and fair business practices. This is to maintain “the separation between banking and commerce,” a noble goal indeed, but as likely to succeed as herding cats. 🐈

Senator Hagerty

Furthermore, the bill decrees that issuers cannot use US-related branding, forbidding terms like “United States,” “United States Government,” or “USG” in the stablecoin’s name. This is to prevent consumers from mistaking the token for a US-backed currency, a concern voiced by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who fears “crypto corruption” like a vampire fears sunlight. 🧛‍♀️

The bill has also expanded the Ethics Coverage for Special Government Employees, ensuring that regular and special government employees—including such luminaries as Elon Musk and the White House’s AI & Crypto Czar, David Sacks—are uniformly subject to conflicts of interest procedures. Because, you know, ethics are always top of mind in Washington. 😉

Meanwhile, the bipartisan amendments also strengthen the Treasury Department’s enforcement capabilities, ensuring the agency’s “ability to suspend an issuer’s registration after both reckless and willful violations.” Because nothing says “trustworthy financial system” like the threat of immediate suspension. 😬

Despite these Herculean efforts, a recent memo from Democratic staff on the Senate Banking Committee suggests that the amendments are woefully inadequate for the bill to pass the vote next week. “Many of the new changes are fig leaves for significant flaws that jeopardize consumer protection and national security,” they claim, with all the dramatic flair of a Russian opera. 🎭

The Democrats’ Thursday analysis asserts that the “current draft paves the way for more Trump crypto corruption,” expands a “giant national security loophole for Tether,” and still allows Big Tech companies to issue stablecoins, while failing to address numerous other “fundamental flaws.” In short, they believe the bill is as rotten as a week-old cabbage. 🥬

BTCUSDT Chart

Original Text: US Senators prepare for a new vote on the highly anticipated stablecoin bill that recently failed to pass cloture. After facing backlash and support withdrawal from Senate Democrats, the bill has undergone new bipartisan amendments to advance the legislation in the upcoming weeks.

Stablecoin Bill To Face Second Cloture Motion

A week after failing to pass the US Senate vote, Senator John Thune has filed cloture on the amended Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act following bipartisan efforts to revive the legislation.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, failed to pass the cloture motion on May 8 after several lawmakers, including two Republican senators, withdrew their support ahead of the vote.

Notably, the stablecoin legislation only received 49 favorable votes when the process requires 60 senators to agree to advance the legislation to an open floor debate. Before last week’s failure, the GENIUS Act was considered a bipartisan effort to offer regulatory clarity, with various Senate Democrats supporting the bill.

The bill underwent various amendments to address Democratic senators’ concerns, including stricter requirements for stablecoin issuers and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) provisions. However, in an opposition statement, ten senators, including four Democrats who previously supported the bill, criticized the revised version of the legislation.

The lawmakers suggested that the draft omitted essential AML and national security safeguards and had ambiguous regulations that could expose crypto markets to exploitation, which led to its failure.

Now, journalist and podcast host Eleanor Terret reports that Senator Thune filed for a second cloture motion on May 15, with a vote scheduled for Monday evening after various amendments to address the Democrats’ concerns.

Bipartisan Amendments Could Not Be Enough

As reported by Bitcoinist, the US senators from both parties were working to “quickly revive” the stablecoin legislation since the May 8 failure.

The bill’s sponsor, Senator Hagerty, recently told Bloomberg that staff from the two parties had continued to work on the GENIUS Act, hoping that Senate Democrats would agree to pass the bill before the Memorial Day holiday, on May 26.

The most recent bipartisan amended version of the stablecoin legislation reportedly includes new language regarding consumer protection, ethics, limitations on Big Tech issuers, among other provisions.

According to a draft page shared by Terret, the bill now prohibits non-financial publicly traded companies, like Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, from issuing a stablecoin unless they meet strict criteria related to financial risks, consumer data, and fair business practices, to maintain “the separation between banking and commerce.”

Additionally, it establishes that issuers can’t use US-related branding, prohibiting terms like “United States,” “United States Government,” or “USG” in the stablecoin’s name to prevent consumers’ confusion with a US-backed token. This directly responds to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s concerns about potential “crypto corruption.”

The bill expanded the Ethics Coverage for Special Government Employees, adding that regular and special government employees, including Elon Musk and the White House’s AI & Crypto Czar, David Sacks, are uniformly subject to conflicts of interest procedures.

Meanwhile, the bipartisan amendments also strengthen the Treasury Department’s enforcement capabilities, securing the agency’s “ability to suspend an issuer’s registration after both reckless and willful violations.”

Despite the changes, a recent memo from Democratic staff on the Senate Banking Committee suggests that the amendments are insufficient for the bill to pass the vote next week, as “many of the new changes are fig leaves for significant flaws that jeopardize consumer protection and national security.”

The Democrats’ Thursday analysis affirms that the “current draft paves the way for more Trump crypto corruption,” expanding a “giant national security loophole for Tether,” and still permitting Big Tech companies to issue a stablecoin while failing to address several other “fundamental flaws.”

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2025-05-17 13:20