The House of Representatives passed three bills designed to establish stablecoin and digital asset regulatory frameworks and prohibit the United States from issuing a central bank digital currency.
House Votes:
The House voted 308-122 to pass the GENIUS Act (S. 1582)—the Senate-passed bill to establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins—sending it to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.
The CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633)—the “market structure” bill that would determine which crypto assets and intermediaries are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or Securities and Exchange Commission—passed by a 294-134 vote, sending it to the Senate for consideration.
The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act (H.R. 1919)—an ICBA-supported bill to bar the Federal Reserve from issuing a U.S. CBDC to consumers—passed 219-210, sending it to the Senate for consideration.
ICBA View: In a national news release following the vote, ICBA said it appreciates the steps taken by lawmakers throughout the legislative process to address concerns raised by ICBA. “ICBA understands the importance of having a clear regulatory framework for stablecoins and other digital assets and has worked closely with Congress to ensure the GENIUS Act includes important provisions to protect against the negative economic consequences to local communities that would result from potential community bank disintermediation,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said.
Outlook: President Trump is expected to sign the GENIUS Act into law. ICBA will remain engaged throughout the rulemaking process. As market structure legislation is taken up in the Senate, ICBA said it will continue to work with policymakers to regulatory frameworks for digital assets fully protect consumers, the financial system, and the unique and important role of community banks. Notably, the CLARITY Act includes some provisions amending the GENIUS Act, including ICBA-supported language prohibiting non-financial companies like Amazon and Walmart from owning stablecoin issuers. The Senate has yet to introduce its own version of market structure legislation.
GENIUS Act Advocacy: ICBA’s advocacy resulted in positive changes to the GENIUS Act throughout the legislative process, including strengthening language on Federal Reserve master account access, expanding the prohibition on yield/interest-bearing stablecoins to include other financial considerations, limiting nonfinancial publicly traded companies' ability to issue stablecoins, tightening permissible activities of issuers, and ensuring issuers cannot claim stablecoins are FDIC insured.
Recent Advocacy: In a letter to the House this week, ICBA said stablecoin and market structure legislation must not create a shadow banking system that offers fewer protections to consumers and imperils the ability of community banks to provide capital and credit to local communities. Throughout the debate, ICBA has worked closely with lawmakers to ensure the legislation includes needed guardrails against community bank disintermediation, as noted in a previous news release ahead of Senate passage.
