The US Senate Banking Committee is preparing to cast their votes on a revised stablecoin regulatory bill, initiated by Republicans. This announcement comes ahead of the scheduled vote on March 13, following collaborative amendments with Democratic committee members.
On March 10, GOP Senator Bill Hagerty, a key sponsor of the bill, unveiled the updated version of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. This revised act is set to be reviewed by the Banking Committee on March 13, and it has received bipartisan input. The bill has garnered support from Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis and Tim Scott, the Banking Committee chair, along with Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand and Angela Alsobrooks.
Gillibrand stated, “The revised GENIUS Act brings substantial enhancements to vital clauses, ranging from consumer safeguards, authorized stablecoin issuers, risk mitigation, state pathways, insolvency, transparency, and beyond.”
The GENIUS Act was initially proposed by Hagerty in early February. It seeks to bring under Federal Reserve regulations those issuers of US dollar stablecoins with market caps exceeding $10 billion — currently only Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC. Those under $10 billion could choose state-level regulation.
According to Dom Kwok, Co-founder of Web3 learning app EasyA, the latest GENIUS Act iteration, as shared by FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, provides “US-issued stablecoins a competitive edge.” He further added that the updated bill imposes “exceptionally high standards” on foreign stablecoin issuers in areas such as reserve and liquidity requirements, money laundering checks, and sanctions checks.
Kwok stated that “Most foreign issuers will struggle to meet these standards,” which gives Circle’s USDC and Ripple Labs’ Ripple USD (RLUSD) “a distinct advantage.”
Jeremy Hogan, Crypto lawyer and partner at Hogan & Hogan, also arrived at the same conclusion in a separate post. He said that the bill’s requirements, especially those concerning reserves and Anti-Money Laundering checks, “all favor RLSUD and USDC.”
However, the GENIUS Act still has a long journey before it can be enacted into law. Following the Senate Banking Committee’s decision, the bill will move to a full Senate floor vote for further discussion. If approved by the Senate, it will then be forwarded to the House. If the House approves the bill without changes, it will finally be sent to President Donald Trump for his signature or veto.
