On Wednesday, U.S. stablecoin legislation reached a significant milestone as a committee in the House of Representatives advanced a bill, aligning with their Senate colleagues and bringing stablecoin regulations one step closer to implementation.
If the overall House and Senate approve the bill, lawmakers can begin reconciling the two versions into a cohesive piece of legislation that could ultimately receive final approval. Republican lawmakers and former President Donald Trump are targeting an August deadline to see this initiative through.
While the cryptocurrency sector and supportive Republican members in Congress celebrated the inclusion of several Democrats in the approval of the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE Act) by the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, Democrats on the committee raised persistent concerns regarding Trump’s ties to the cryptocurrency industry and stablecoins.
Prior to the House committee’s markup session, where lawmakers proposed amendments and debated the bill, a firm linked to Trump, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), announced its backing for its own stablecoin (USD1). Trump has been actively involved in the cryptocurrency space, even promoting non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the $TRUMP memecoin while advocating for cryptocurrency-friendly policies federally.
Regulating stablecoins—typically pegged to the U.S. dollar like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC—is one of the industry’s top policy priorities. Committee Chairman French Hill championed the industry’s perspective, stating that “innovation requires guardrails, not obstructions.”
Republican members refrained from explicitly discussing Trump’s involvement in the industry. When Democratic representatives, including Waters, proposed amendments aimed at addressing potential conflicts of interest arising from the president’s business dealings and his influence over regulators responsible for stablecoin decisions, these proposals were rejected by the Republican majority, who deemed them “unnecessary.”
“We don’t discriminate against entrepreneurs based on their identity or background,” Hill remarked. He asserted that to establish clear regulatory boundaries in this space, the best course of action is to pass the bill that provides oversight.
Representative Maxine Waters, the leading Democrat on the committee, accused Trump of “leveraging the power of the presidency to create multiple cryptocurrency schemes for his own benefit,” labeling it a “demonstration of greed.”
“He stands apart from any other issuer as the president of the United States,” said Representative Stephen Lynch, the leading Democrat on the digital assets subcommittee, arguing that Trump could exert influence over any governmental support his business interests might need in the event of failure. “If this were happening under a Democratic president, there would be an uproar from Republicans, and rightly so. This shouldn’t be allowed.”
Another Democrat, Illinois Representative Sean Casten, claimed that Tron’s Justin Sun has invested tens of millions into WLFI with no clear return apart from its connection to the Trump family. He expressed concern that government figures involved with stablecoins could be swayed by foreign investors, potentially escaping public scrutiny.
Despite the Democrats’ arguments, the Republican majority in the committee remained unmoved, resulting in no new amendments being added to the legislation. Supporters maintain that this House version closely aligns with the Senate’s. Representative Bill Huizenga, a Republican from Michigan, remarked that the House proposal appropriately retains significant authority for state regulators, providing a “more flexible approach at times.”
“We have an administration ready to adopt these products; now is the time,” Huizenga stated.
This was one of several bills under consideration by the House Financial Services Committee related to cryptocurrency issues. Another piece of legislation discussed on Wednesday aimed to create a cross-agency group of law enforcement to tackle illicit uses of cryptocurrencies, while one more sought to prohibit U.S.-issued central bank digital currency (CBDC). Lawmakers also voted on numerous amendments to the stablecoin legislation before advancing the bill itself, although they experienced initial difficulties with their electronic voting system.
As the stablecoin bill progresses, Trump is also positioned to sign into law the first pro-cryptocurrency action from Congress: a resolution that cancels an IRS rule targeting decentralized finance (DeFi) operations. While the president is expected to endorse the resolution, a specific timetable for this action has yet to be announced.