The Senate recently made significant progress in passing the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, with a vote of 68-30 to invoke cloture. This effectively ended the filibuster option and paved the way for a final floor vote requiring a simple majority. Majority Leader John Thune wasted no time in starting the 30-hour post-cloture clock after the tally.
A key development in the process was the introduction of an amendment by Senator Bill Hagerty, which helped ease partisan objections to the bill. This substitute amendment removed a proposed ban on in-kind redemptions and clarified supervisory authority for non-bank issuers, addressing concerns raised after the bill’s initial cloture attempt failed in May. The revised text maintained strict requirements for reserve, disclosure, and examination.
The GENIUS Act aims to impose one-to-one backing for every payment stablecoin, requiring them to hold high-quality, highly liquid assets equal to the value of tokens in circulation, such as short-dated US Treasuries or insured deposits. Issuers would be prohibited from offering yield on the coins themselves and would need to segregate reserves from operational capital. Additionally, they must implement Bank Secrecy Act compliance programs, conduct customer due diligence, and file suspicious activity reports.
Entities with liabilities exceeding $10 billion would be required to obtain a federal charter, while smaller issuers could operate under state regimes that meet minimum federal standards, subject to joint examinations by federal and state regulators. The legislation also grants the Treasury Department the authority to publish quarterly reserve audit templates and gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission limited enforcement powers over spot-market manipulation.
If the Senate adopts the Hagerty amendment and passes the bill, the House could proceed with that text without the need for a conference committee, expediting the enactment process. During the 30 post-cloture hours, only germane amendments are permitted unless 60 senators agree to waive the rule.
The Crypto Council for Innovation and the DeFi Education Fund have both commended the Senate’s progress on the GENIUS Act, emphasizing the broad support for clear federal rules within the industry. They have urged senators to maintain momentum through the upcoming amendment and passage votes, highlighting the importance of establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States.