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US Senate passes stablecoin bill in win for crypto, Trump

Industry backers hope the legislation will turn stablecoins into a mainstream form of payment

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An illustration picture taken on May 8, 2022, shows a cryptocurrency Tether (USDT) coin arranged in front of a screen displaying US dollar notes. Photo: AFP
Bloomberg

The US Senate passed stablecoin legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar, in a landmark win for the ascendant crypto industry and President Donald Trump.

The 68-30 vote on Tuesday evening marked a rare moment of bipartisanship in the deeply divided Senate, despite Republicans blocking Democratic efforts to bar Trump from profiting from his many crypto ventures while in office.

A Trump-affiliated stablecoin already has a US$2 billion market value.

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The House has been pursuing its own legislation, including a more sweeping measure to regulate the broader crypto market. House lawmakers must now decide whether to take up the Senate bill or negotiate a compromise measure.

The US Senate passed stablecoin legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS
The US Senate passed stablecoin legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS

The stablecoin vote, years in the making, is the crypto industry’s most tangible return yet on the hundreds of millions of dollars it poured into electing a crypto-friendly Congress. Crypto titans who flooded money into last year’s election with the best-funded alliance of corporate political action committees in US history have similar plans for the 2026 midterm elections.

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Dollar-pegged stablecoins would have to hold dollar-for-dollar reserves in short-term government debt or similar products overseen by state or federal regulators.

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