Crypto execs flock to DC to support Senate stablecoin bill
Crypto founders are heading to Washington, DC, to meet with lawmakers ahead of another expected vote on a stablecoin bill that initially failed in the Senate, according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
In a May 14 X post from the US Capitol rotunda, Armstrong said as many as “60 [crypto] founders” had gathered in DC to support the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, being considered in the Senate and a draft of the market structure bill moving through the House of Representatives.
The Coinbase CEO said the Senate could consider another vote on the GENIUS Act “hopefully tomorrow” after it failed to get enough support from Democrats on May 8.
“Like any good negotiation, there’s a lot of details to work out at the last minute, but we’ve been stressing the urgency of this,” said Armstrong.
Many Democratic lawmakers have said they will not support any crypto-related legislation without a specific carve-out for President Donald Trump profiting from his digital asset ventures, like his TRUMP memecoin and his family-backed company World Liberty Financial. A Democratic staffer told Cointelegraph that there had been no indication that Republicans intended to address these concerns, while a person familiar with the matter claimed doing so would be unconstitutional.
The Senate resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to consideration of the GENIUS Act on May 12, suggesting another vote in a matter of days. Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Related: What are the next steps for the US stablecoin bill?
Is bipartisan support for crypto possible under a Trump presidency?
Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the Senate and House and require Democratic support for the stablecoin and market structure bills to pass. Before the 2024 election — i.e., before Trump took office, issued his own stablecoin and World Liberty Financial its USD1 stablecoin — some Democrats voted with Republicans for crypto legislation offering clarity on regulations.
Should the GENIUS bill’s sponsor and co-sponsors try and move forward with a vote without any changes, it’s unclear whether they would have enough support to clear a 60-vote majority and avoid a filibuster — a process to delay or sometimes block a vote on a bill.
“Despite the politics around the TRUMP memecoin and crypto investments — that has definitely made our work more complicated — I still argue that behind the scenes, you’ve got constructive members in both sides of the Capitol and in both political parties working to find consensus,” said Representative French Hill at the Consensus conference in Toronto on May 14.
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Sam Bankman-Fried claimed that handing over FTX to its current CEO was the “single biggest mistake” that prevented him from saving the exchange.
The Conservative Party will leave a key human rights treaty if it wins the election, its leader Kemi Badenoch has said.
Ms Badenoch announced the policy to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) ahead of the Conservative Party’s conference next week.
Despite many Tory MPs having expressed displeasure with the treaty, and the court that upholds treaty rights in recent years, it had not been party policy for the UK to exit it.
The move follows a review on the impact of the UK’s ECHR membership conducted by shadow attorney general Baron Wolfson.
Lord Wolfson’s nearly 200-page report said the ECHR had impacted government policy in numerous areas.
The report said this includes limiting government’s ability to address immigration issues, potentially hampering restrictions on climate change policy, and impacting government ability to prioritise British citizens for social housing and public services.
Read more:
Baroness Mone: I have no wish to rejoin Lords as Conservative peer
But leaving the ECHR would “not be a panacea to all the issues that have arisen in recent years”, Lord Wolfson said.
It comes after the Reform Party in August said they would take the UK out of the ECHR if elected.
The Conservatives have increasingly come under threat from Reform and are being trailed in the polls by them.
What is the ECHR?
The ECHR was established in the 1950s, drafted in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust, to protect people from serious human rights violations, with Sir Winston Churchill as a driving force.
It’s 18 sections guarantee rights such as the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the right to a fair trial, the right to private and family life and the right to freedom of expression.
It has been used to halt the deportation of migrants in 13 out of 29 UK cases since 1980.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch. Pic: PA
A political issue
Leaving the ECHR would breach the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the peace settlement deal between the British and Irish governments on how Northern Ireland should be governed.
Labour has in recent days said it was considering how Article 3, the prohibition on torture, and Article 8,
the right to respect for private and family life, are interpreted. The sections have been used to halt deportation attempts.
The Liberal Democrats and Greens are in favour of the ECHR.
A general election is not expected until 2029.
Coinbase said seeking the license is part of its broader effort to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional finance.
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