Latest news with #JiKim
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. Senate Passes GENIUS Act to Regulate Stablecoins, Marking Crypto Industry Win
The overwhelming bipartisan passage of the U.S. Senate's stablecoin bill, with a 68-30 final vote that saw a huge surge of Democrats joining their Republican counterparts on Tuesday, sets a new high-water mark of crypto policy efforts in the U.S. as the legislation now heads to the House of Representatives. The major Democratic backing for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025 (GENIUS) Act helps give it momentum as it lands in the other chamber, where House lawmakers can either vote on it as written or pursue changes that will require a final round in the Senate before it can head to President Donald Trump's desk. As written, the bill would set up guardrails around the approval and supervision of U.S. issuers of stablecoins, the dollar-based tokens such as the ones backed by Circle, Ripple and Tether. Firms making these digital assets available to U.S. users would have to meet stringent reserve demands, transparency requirements, money-laundering compliance and regulatory supervision that's also likely to include new capital rules. Ji Kim, the Acting CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, called it a "historic step forward for the digital asset industry," in a prepared statement shared ahead of the vote "This is a win for the U.S., a win for innovation and a monumental step towards appropriate regulation for digital assets in the United States," said Amanda Tuminelli, executive director and chief legal officer of the DeFi Education Fund, in a similar statement. While it has failed to convince some of the most vocal Democratic critics such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, who say it allows loopholes for foreign tokens such as Tether's USDT, doesn't deal with conflicts presented by the personal crypto involvement of President Trump and clears a path for technology giants such as Amazon to issue their own coins, the bill's backers in her party have essentially argued that doing nothing isn't an option. "With this bill, the United States is one step closer to becoming the global leader in crypto," said Senator Bill Hagerty, the Tennessee Republican who sponsored the bill, as the Senate prepared to vote on Tuesday. "The value of stablecoins will be pegged to the U.S. dollar and backed one-to-one by cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries. This will provide certainty and confidence for more wide-scale adoption of this transformational technology.' While this is the first significant crypto bill to clear the Senate, it's also the first time a stablecoin bill has passed either chamber, despite years of negotiation in the House Financial Services Committee that managed to produce other major crypto legislation in the previous congressional session. The destiny of the GENIUS Act is also tied closely to the House's own Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the more sweeping crypto bill that would establish the legal footing of the wider U.S. crypto markets. The stablecoin effort is slightly ahead of the bigger task of the market structure bill, but the industry and their lawmaker allies argue that they're inextricably connected and need to become law together. So far, the Clarity Act has been cleared by the relevant House committees and awaits floor action. The crypto industry's lobbyists turn now to the House on both those issues. A new report on Tuesday from TRM Labs says that stablecoins represent more than 60% of current crypto transactions, and more than 90% of those coins are pegged to the U.S. dollar — dominated by USDC and USDT. "Although TRM estimates that 99% of stablecoin activity is licit, their speed, scale, and liquidity have made them appealing for illicit uses, including ransomware payments, fraud, and terrorist financing," the analytical organization noted. Illicit finance represents one of the major complaints of critics in in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Hill
06-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Crypto industry urges Senate to move forward with floor debate on stablecoin bill
Three major crypto trade associations are urging the Senate to bring stablecoin legislation to the floor for debate this week, even as crypto-friendly Democrats threaten to vote down the bill over recent moves by Republican leadership. The heads of Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and The Digital Chamber called on senators to support a motion to consider the GENIUS Act, the upper chamber's bill to create a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. 'A comprehensive regulatory framework will enable widespread and increased stablecoin adoption, which is essential to cementing U.S. dollar dominance in the digital economy,' Blockchain Association's Kristin Smith, Crypto Council for Innovation's Ji Kim and The Digital Chamber's Cody Carbone said in a statement Tuesday. 'We are grateful for the significant strides the GENIUS Act has already made, and we hope to see meaningful refinements to further ensure U.S. leadership in digital finance,' they added. The GENIUS Act currently sits in a precarious position, as Senate leadership prepares to bring the bill to the floor Thursday. However, nine Democrats pulled their support for the legislation over the weekend, saying they could not vote for the current version. The pushback comes after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) moved to expedite consideration of the bill last Thursday. A Democratic aide told the Hill that Democratic lawmakers were surprised by the move and had not seen the latest version of the bill text. 'We have approached this process constructively and with an open mind, with the understanding that additional improvements to the bill would be made,' the senators said in a statement Saturday. 'However, the bill as it currently stands still has numerous issues that must be addressed.' Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Digital Assets Subcommittee, accused Republicans of attempting to force through the legislation without additional negotiation. 'It seems they want us to suck it up and vote for this bill without our input,' he wrote on X. 'That's not what we expected during this negotiation and not how I operate. Our statement makes clear we won't let them jam us. Looking forward to continuing to get this bill to a better place.' Gallego was one of several Senate Banking Democrats who voted to advance the GENIUS Act in March. Similar legislation, called the STABLE Act, also advanced out of the House Financial Services Committee last month. However, crypto legislation appears to be hitting a wall in Washington, particularly as President Trump's growing ties to the industry face scrutiny. House Democrats walked out of a hearing on digital asset market structure legislation Tuesday, after Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) objected over the president and his family's recent crypto dealings. Waters, ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee, sought to block the hearing between the panel and the House Agriculture Committee, taking advantage of a rule requiring unanimous consent for a joint hearing. However, Republicans and some Democrats remained and held a more informal roundtable with the assembled witnesses. Trump and his family have fueled more criticism in recent days, after their crypto firm World Liberty Financial announced that Emirati firm MGX and crypto exchange Binance would use its new stablecoin to complete a $2 billion transaction.
