Following President Donald Trump's call for the rapid passage of the stablecoin oversight bill recently approved by the U.S. Senate, Representative French Hill, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, indicated on Monday that there are still several details that need to be addressed. Hill expressed his reluctance to commit to the president's request to pass the Senate's bill without amendments, stating instead that discussions are ongoing with the leadership to iron out various issues between the Senate-approved bill and the House version, which is still in progress. Trump had previously expressed his preference for a swift passage, stating, 'The House will hopefully move LIGHTNING FAST, and pass a 'clean' GENIUS Act.
Get it to my desk, ASAP — NO DELAYS, NO ADD ONS.' However, Hill hopes that both the stablecoin bill and the legislation outlining the structure of U.S. crypto markets can be passed by the August deadline set by Trump. When questioned about his intentions, Hill declined to provide a clear answer, saying, 'What I'm open to is listening to my colleagues.' He mentioned that he spent the previous week discussing approaches with House members and leadership to meet Trump's deadline.
Hill highlighted the differences between the Senate's GENIUS Act and the House's STABLE Act, including concepts related to extraterritoriality, state and federal agency oversight, and the separation of banking and commerce. While Hill believes that the Senate and the House can find common ground, this would require making changes to the GENIUS Act, contrary to Trump's wishes.
According to Rashan Colbert, policy director for the Crypto Council for Innovation, 'There is a finite amount of time that folks can really spend on one issue. Crypto is taking a lot of time, a lot of mental energy for legislators, and so there is still some work to be done to figure out whether the bills will be combined in one process, or whether they'll be separated.' The House has three options: passing the GENIUS Act as-is, combining it with the STABLE Act, or merging it with the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The latter option has been discussed by House lawmakers, although some in the crypto industry are concerned that a single complex bill may be more challenging for Congress to pass.