US House sends crypto ‘GENIUS Act' to Trump, in win for industry advocates
The votes by the Republican-controlled chamber come amid a wider push by the Trump administration to make the US the 'crypto capital of the world', in what the president has dubbed 'crypto week'.
Trump and his family's emphasis on the largely unregulated crypto industry has also raised concerns it could be used to mask corruption and foreign influence.
The bill that will go directly to Trump is called the GENIUS Act. It sets initial guardrails and consumer protections for a cryptocurrency known as stablecoins, which are tied to 'stable' assets like the US dollar to reduce their volatility.
House Financial Services Chair French Hill said during debate on Thursday that the bill will 'ensure American competitiveness and strong guardrails for our consumers'.
'Around the world, payment systems are undergoing a revolution,' he said.
The legislation passed in the Senate and by a 308-122 vote in the House. It garnered bipartisan support in both chambers.
A second bill would create a new market structure for cryptocurrency. It passed by a slimmer margin of 294-134 and will need to go to the Senate, where lawmakers could craft a new version.
That legislation aims to provide clarity for how digital assets are regulated, mostly by defining what forms of cryptocurrency should be treated as commodities regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and which are securities policed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Commodities are typically considered goods that can be traded or sold, while securities, like stocks and bonds, typically refer to partial ownership of an asset.
A third bill, passed by a narrower 219-210 margin, would prohibit the US from offering what's known as a 'central bank digital currency', essentially a government-issued form of digital cash. It will also head to the Senate.
Trump's crypto interests
Cryptocurrencies, which are unmoored from any central government authority, have exploded in popularity since first emerging in 2009.
But experts have said US operations have been curtailed by unclear laws governing the industry. Advocates have said the bills passed on Thursday could help to hearken in more mainstream adoption.
Still, Democrats critical of the GENIUS bill accused Republicans of fast-tracking the passage, while failing to address Trump and future presidents' interests in cryptocurrency.
For example, a provision in the bill bans members of Congress and their families from profiting off stablecoins. That prohibition does not extend to the president and his family.
Trump's family holds a significant stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that launched its own stablecoin, USD1. Trump reported earning $57.35m from token sales at World Liberty Financial in 2024, according to a public financial disclosure released in June.
A meme coin linked to him has also generated an estimated $320m in fees, though the earnings are split among multiple investors.
'No one should be surprised that these same Republicans' next order of business is to validate, legitimise, and endorse the Trump family's corruption and efforts to sell the White House to the highest bidder,' Representative Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services panel, said amid the flurry of votes on Thursday.
Since taking office, Trump has also proposed creating a cryptocurrency 'national reserve' and has suspended Department of Justice investigations related to cryptocurrency.
Some Democrats also criticised the GENIUS bill for creating what they called an overly weak regulatory framework that could pose longterm financial risks.
They also say the legislation opens the door for major corporations to issue their own private cryptocurrencies.
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