US Senator Introduces Bill to Regulate Payment Stablecoins

A U.S. senator has introduced a bill to “establish the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.” The lawmaker explained: “This bill will also ensure the Federal Reserve, which has displayed significant skepticism about stablecoins, won’t be in a position to stop this activity.”

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, introduced the “Stablecoin Transparency of Reserves and Uniform Safe Transactions Act of 2022” on Wednesday. The bill is also known as the “Stablecoin TRUST Act of 2022.”

According to the lawmaker, the legislation would “establish the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and guide Congress towards a path for sensible regulation of cryptocurrencies.” Senator Toomey opined:

I hope this framework lays the groundwork for my colleagues to pass legislation next year safeguarding customer funds without inhibiting innovation … This bill will also ensure the Federal Reserve, which has displayed significant skepticism about stablecoins, won’t be in a position to stop this activity.

“Stablecoins are an exciting technological development that could transform money and payments. By digitizing the U.S. dollar and making it available on a global, instant, and nearly cost-free basis, stablecoins could be widely used across the physical economy in a variety of ways,” Toomey noted. The lawmaker from Pennsylvania will be retiring from the Senate at the end of his term in January next year.

The bill “encourages competition by authorizing several types of regulated entities to issue payment stablecoins,” the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs described, adding that it “enhances financial stability by requiring that all payment stablecoins are fully backed by high-quality liquid assets.” Furthermore, the bill “establishes transparency by subjecting all payment stablecoin issuers to standardized disclosure requirements and attestations by registered accounting firms,” the Senate committee further detailed.

Toomey published a draft of this Stablecoin TRUST Act back in April, calling it “the first Senate bill to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.”

The senator from Pennsylvania is pro-crypto. Last week, he said cryptocurrency cannot be stopped and that the collapse of crypto Exchange FTX is not an indictment against cryptocurrency. In February, the lawmaker said crypto assets are here to stay and a thoroughly diversified portfolio should have some.

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