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Stablecoin bill won’t target Trump as Senate aims to pass it next week

The US Senate could pass a key bipartisan stablecoin bill as soon as next week after removing language targeting President Donald Trump and his family’s sprawling crypto interests.

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis said onstage at an event by Coinbase’s lobbying arm, Stand With Crypto, that she thinks it’s a “fair target” to have the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act, passed by May 26 — Memorial Day in the US.

Joining her onstage was Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who hinted that the bill’s language was changed to scrap provisions that targeted Trump’s various crypto projects, which include memecoins, a crypto platform, a stablecoin, and a crypto mining company that plans to go public, among others.

“When this language comes out, people will see really good refinement, a lot of progress, on things like consumer protection, and bankruptcy protection, and ethics,” Gillibrand said. “Things beyond just ‘what’s the structure?’ and ‘what’s required for an issuer?’”

Congress, Stablecoin
Source: Brian Armstrong

Senate Democrats pulled support for the bill on May 8 and stalled its momentum, airing concerns that it wouldn’t help address multiple crypto-tied deals that will personally enrich Trump.

“A lot of what President Trump is engaged in is already illegal,” Gillibrand said. “I also think his issuance of a memecoin is illegal based on current law.”

“It’s literally offering anyone who wants to curry favor with the administration to just send him money — that’s about as illegal as it gets.”

“I’m not so worried about this bill having to deal with all President Trump’s ethics problems. What this bill is really intended to do is regulate the entire space of stablecoins,” she added.

Gillibrand said the revised bill includes “some ethics requirements,” but it was “not an ethics bill.”

“If we were dealing with all President Trump’s ethics problems, it would be a very long and detailed bill,” she added.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, also on stage, was hopeful the Senate would vote on the stablecoin bill “early next week.”

Armstrong, whose company cozied up to Trump by donating $1 million to his inauguration fund, declined to comment when asked if the President’s memecoin could impact the passage of bipartisan crypto bills.

“It’s not my place to really comment on President Trump’s activity,” he said. “What I do think is important is that this bill remains focused on stablecoins.”

Crypto bills “absolutely critical” to pass before midterms

The crypto industry is pushing for Congress to pass the GENIUS Act and a Republican-drafted crypto market structure bill before the midterm elections on Nov. 3, 2026, where all 435 House seats and a third of the 100 Senate seats are up for election.

“We have a very narrow window to get legislation through between now and the midterms,” Marta Belcher, the president of the crypto lobby group the Blockchain Association, told Cointelegraph at the Consensus conference in Toronto.

“I strongly suspect that window is going to close very quickly. I don’t know if we’re going to get another window like this to get legislation through,” she added.

“It’s absolutely critical that we get it through now, especially because there really is a real possibility that in the future we end up with an administration that is hostile to crypto.”

The Association’s communications director, Chris Jonas, added that it’s critical the bills pass before Congress takes a recess for the month of August.

Related: Crypto execs flock to DC to support Senate stablecoin bill 

“Once you get into the calendar year of the midterms, historically not a lot of legislation moves, so that’s why it’s so critical,” he explained.

Trump should be on track to sign both crypto bills before the August break, according to Bo Hines, the executive director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets.

Hines noted on stage at Consensus on May 13 that negotiations on both bills are still ongoing, but it was “the President’s desire” to sign both “stablecoin legislation and market structure legislation before the August recess.”

Legal Panel: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight 

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Poll shows crypto-focused candidates could sway voters in US midterms

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Poll shows crypto-focused candidates could sway voters in US midterms

Poll shows crypto-focused candidates could sway voters in US midterms

With more than a year until US elections to determine control of Congress, a new poll suggested some crypto-minded Democratic voters could be swayed to vote Republican.

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Starmer gets carnival welcome in India – but UK business leaders paint challenging picture back home

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Starmer gets carnival welcome in India - but UK business leaders paint challenging picture back home

It is not hard to see why Sir Keir Starmer ends up doing quite so many foreign trips.

On the road to Mumbai, India, from the airport there were giant pictures of the British prime minister looming over the sealed-off roads cleared for his special VIP convoy.

There was nothing short of a carnival along the roadside to greet the cars.

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Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to an FA Premier League training facility in Mumbai.  Pic: PA
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Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to an FA Premier League training facility in Mumbai. Pic: PA

People who knew nothing about Sir Keir – and were happy to admit so to me – dressed up for the occasion in plumes of feathers and chicken costumes and danced to music. The Labour conference does not come close to that.

This trip has a big first – 125 blue chip business leaders, more than any business delegation in history – are here. The enthusiasm to take advantage of the signed, though not completed, free trade deal is clear.

“I think the importance of this trip is reflected by the huge British delegation we’ve got here today,” said Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce.

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“A hundred and twenty five businesses, biggest UK names Beattie, BP, British Airways, Diageo, Virgin, huge businesses all the way through to incredible AI and energy start-ups from around the UK.”

But business leaders have been clear to me that they haven’t simply joined the delegation to further their activities in India. They want to raise their profile with the prime minister, in order to ensure their voice is heard when it needs to be by the government.

Sir Keir Starmer at a Diwali ceremony in Mumbai. Pic: PA
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Sir Keir Starmer at a Diwali ceremony in Mumbai. Pic: PA

And the picture some paint of life back in the UK is more challenging. CEO of leading architecture firm Benoy, Tom Cartledge, said how 10 to 15 years ago their business was 90% UK activity, and now it is 90% overseas. He said markets like India are important in part because the UK environment is challenging.

“We’re having to go and find new markets because what we do is design big projects, infrastructure, real estate towers, residential, retail,” he told me.

He went on: “There really is a perception of overseas markets that we are sluggish, low productivity, high tax rates. And that does nothing for the confidence. And in fact, I spoke to an Indian client this morning who said that they are relocating from the head offices to Dubai, because the perception is it’s going to get harder, it’s going to get tougher in the UK and we just do not need that.”

It is rare for business figures on a PM delegation to speak so openly.

The PM visits a Premier league youth training facility with ex-England footballer Michael Owen. Pic: PA
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The PM visits a Premier league youth training facility with ex-England footballer Michael Owen. Pic: PA

Ms Haviland told me that business figures are using this trip to pass a message to the prime minister.

“We want to see no more tax for business,” she told me, saying that’s the message being conveyed right now in India. I asked what they say back? “They hear us,” she replied. “I think we’ll have to wait and see.”

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Starmer visits Bollywood

Another important voice is Rohan Malik, managing partner of EY. He says there’s an optimistic case for the UK over the medium term but suggested short-term challenges for the government.

“No one likes taxes, but at the same time, they are a necessary way for the government to balance the books.

“If I take a five or seven-year view, I feel more optimistic about the future, because I do think some short-term pain will lead to some long-term gains.”

Does he think the business community could bear paying a bit more?

“I think it’s going to be tricky for the chancellor,” he said.

“I don’t envy her position at all to be looking at different, but she’s got other of disposal businesses, but not like more taxation. At the same time, we have to be prepared to understand how do we try and contribute more towards economic growth?”

The candour is not something I can remember from business delegations in the past. That’s a response to the nervousness about a £20bn-£30bn black hole Chancellor Rachel Reeves will have to fill in the November budget. Overall the delegates remain on side – for now.

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Coinbase enables staking for NY residents after regulatory approval

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Coinbase enables staking for NY residents after regulatory approval

Coinbase enables staking for NY residents after regulatory approval

Coinbase has launched crypto staking in New York, allowing residents to earn rewards on assets such as ETH and SOL following state regulatory approval.

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