WASHINGTON — House lawmakers discussed two draft versions of long-awaited stablecoin legislation during a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee's digital assets panel, a meaningful step forward toward finding a bipartisan compromise that could pass Congress this year.
Ahead of the hearing, House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., released the Democratic version of a stablecoin bill that has striking similarities to
Lawmakers from both parties expressed a desire to craft a bipartisan bill, though some clear divisions remained.
Waters' bill features a new section that would bar the commingling of customer funds with assets held by a stablecoin issuer — a clear reference to the turmoil caused by complicated intermingling of funds in the
The Republican version, meanwhile, emphasizes state governments' role in overseeing stablecoins.
Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., the chairman of the subcommittee on digital assets, said that Republicans considered the Biden administration's studies on digital assets in their version of the bill, and sought to find similarities between the McHenry and Waters drafts.
"I remain convinced that members on both sides of the aisle are actively working in good faith to find agreement on these key points. We also agree on the basic protections that must be included in any stablecoin legislation. Consumer, investor protection is at the heart of our bill," he said. "So, I want to be clear that while we noticed two different legislative proposals today, we are not starting from scratch. To do so would have ignored all the effort that was made and common ground that was found during the negotiations on the previous proposal."
