by Steven T. Dennis
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has teed up a critical procedural vote Wednesday on stablecoin legislation supported by the crypto industry and President Donald Trump.
The vote, which will require support from 60 senators, puts the bipartisan legislation on path for swift passage in the coming days after revisions last month won the backing of crypto-friendly Democratic senators like Angela Alsobrooks and Mark Warner.
The stablecoin bill would set up rules for dollar-pegged tokens used to make payments. The stablecoins would have to be backed one to one with reserves held in short-term investments like federal debt, overseen by federal or state regulators.
Progressive Democrats bemoan that the legislation lacks safeguards to prevent stablecoins from endangering the financial system and allowing criminals to exploit them. They’ve also criticized the bill for not addressing Trump’s profiting off his own crypto dealings.
A Senate aide late Monday said negotiations are ongoing on the bill and it’s still possible senators will offer floor amendments.
But Thune’s move to end debate on the bill means it’s unlikely the legislation will include language pushed by retailers and their allies in the Senate to mandate competition to Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. in credit card processing.
The proposal, pushed by Republican Senator Roger Marshall and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, would require large banks to offer a choice of networks for processing credit card transactions, including one outside of Visa and Mastercard. The goal is to lower fees merchants pay for the transactions by injecting more competition.
Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott has signaled that his committee could consider the credit card provisions as standalone legislation rather than as part of the stablecoin legislation.
Marshall said Monday he was figuring out next steps and still hopes to get a vote at some point on the legislation.
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