US stablecoin bill gets update ahead of Senate banking group vote

US Senate Banking Committee is set to vote on a Republican-led stablecoin framework bill on March 13, after it was updated following consultation with committee Democrats.

GOP Senator Bill Hagerty, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said on March 10 that he introduced an update of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which would go to a Banking Committee vote on March 13.

He added that the updated bill saw bipartisan consultation. The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis and Tim Scott, who is also chair of the Banking Committee chair, along with Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand and Angela Alsobrooks.

“The updated version of the GENIUS Act makes significant improvements to a number of important provisions, including consumer protections, authorized stablecoin issuers, risk mitigation, state pathways, insolvency, transparency, and more,” Gillibrand said in a statement.

Hagerty first introduced the bill in early February. It aims to bring issuers of US dollar stablecoins with market caps over $10 billion — currently only Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) — under Federal Reserve regulations. Those under $10 billion could opt into state-level regulation.

Web3 learning app EasyA co-founder Dom Kwok said on X that the latest version of the GENIUS Act, shared by FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, gives “US-issued stablecoins a competitive advantage.”

He added that the bill now holds foreign stablecoin issuers to “extra high standards” in areas such as reserve and liquidity requirements, money laundering checks and sanctions checks.

Source: Dom Kwok

“Most foreign issuers will find these standards hard to meet,” which gives Circle’s USDC and Ripple Labs’ Ripple USD (RLUSD) “an upper hand,” he said.

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Crypto lawyer and Hogan & Hogan partner Jeremy Hogan came to the same conclusion in a separate X post, saying the bill’s requirements, particularly around reserves and Anti-Money Laundering checks, “all fall neatly for RLSUD and USDC.”

The GENIUS Act still has a way to go before becoming law. The Senate Banking Committee will have to vote to pass the bill and it will then be put to a full Senate floor vote where it could be debated.

If it passes the Senate, it will head to the House. If the House doesn’t change the bill, then it will be sent to President Donald Trump to sign into law or veto.

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