WASHINGTON, D.C. — Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are anticipated to receive the actual wording of a stablecoin regulation bill for discussion on Wednesday. This comes from a prominent legislator advocating for the measure, which aims to align the House with a similar initiative currently underway in the Senate.
Rep. Bryan Steil, the Republican chair of the crypto subcommittee under the House Financial Services Committee, announced at a Wednesday gathering in Washington that the bill would be presented before the day concludes. The Senate has already made progress with its own version of stablecoin oversight legislation, which has passed through the Senate Banking Committee.
Both proposed bills aim to establish guidelines for issuing digital tokens tied to stable assets, typically the U.S. dollar, with the main contentious issue being the regulation of the issuers by both state and federal authorities.
A markup session for the House stablecoin bill—during which the committee will debate amendments and decide on advancing the bill to the wider House—should occur “very soon,” according to Steil. House representatives, including Rep. French Hill, the committee chair, are making efforts to “bridge the gap” with the Senate, Steil noted.
This congressional stablecoin initiative successfully cleared the House last session but was halted in the Senate. It stands as the more straightforward and manageable of two significant crypto legislative efforts the industry is eager to see enacted this year. The other piece of legislation focuses on the operation of digital asset markets in the U.S. and the governance of those assets and transactions, a task far more complex. Nevertheless, Steil indicated that the current Congress is better positioned to address it.
“The political landscape has shifted considerably,” he remarked. “We have a House of Representatives that remains largely supportive of crypto,” he continued, highlighting strong collaborative relationships with several Democrats, a situation echoed in the Senate.
Steil mentioned that the market-structure bill could be scheduled for a House hearing in early April.
The speaker lineup at the Washington event, organized by the Digital Chamber, underscores the deepening connections between the industry and Congress this year, featuring over half a dozen U.S. senators and nearly a dozen House members, including several Democrats.
In the early weeks of the congressional session, the crypto industry has already witnessed positive momentum on Capitol Hill, gaining significant bipartisan support for an initiative in both chambers aimed at overturning an IRS rule affecting decentralized finance (DeFi). Additionally, the Senate Banking Committee has advanced the stablecoin bill with backing from both parties.