Republican lawmakers on the US House Financial Services Committee have released a draft bill focusing on stablecoins for payments rather than overseeing other aspects of the digital asset market.
They have narrowed the scope of the September 2022 stablecoin bill in response to feedback from lawmakers, a senior staffer on a Republican committee involved in drafting the legislation told reporters on April 24. The bill, which seeks to provide “regulation of stable coins for payments, ” will be separated from legislation focused on custody service providers, algorithmic stablecoins and research into central bank digital currencies.
Under the current draft of the bill, the Fed would primarily be responsible for non-bank stablecoin issuers. Issuers must also meet certain federal standards to qualify as payment stablecoin issuers, even under state charters. Additionally, the wording of the draft bill no longer includes the two-year ban on algorithmic stablecoins first proposed in September following the decoupling of TerraUSD Classic (USTC). “Issuers of licensed payment stablecoins shall maintain, at least on a one-to-one basis, reserves supporting the issuer's outstanding payment stablecoins ,” the draft bill said. “In any bankruptcy proceeding [...] A claim brought by a person who issues a payment stablecoin issued by a payment stablecoin issuer shall take precedence over all other claims against the payment issuer.”
The bill represents a significant change from the draft released ahead of the April 19 committee hearing on stablecoins. Regarding the bill, Maxine Waters, the top member of the Financial Services Committee, said the draft does not represent a compromise between Democratic and Republic an members. The Staffer Said the Had Shared the Latest Drapt with Democratic Staffers and WEEEDBACK. The DRAFT BILL Comes at a Time When Remain A TARG ET of US regulators. In February, The Secness a Wells Notice to Paxos Regarding Binance USD, Lawmakers Have Scheduled hearings to explore the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, which led to the USD Coin. Temporarily depegged from USD due to Circle's exposure.
Lawmakers in both the US Senate and House of Representatives have previously proposed different paths through legislation to regulate stablecoins, but many attempts have failed. Any bill would need to be approved by the House and Senate before it goes to President Joe Biden's desk to be signed into law.
