U.S. House Lawmakers Fail to Reach Bipartisan Deal on Stablecoins Legislation

U.S. House lawmakers have failed to reach a bipartisan deal on stablecoins legislation, with Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry blaming the impasse on White House intransigence, while the committee's senior Democrat said it was Patrick McHenry who terminated negotiations.

The news comes a day after finance-focused lawmakers brought three bills on crypto issues to a vote in the full House of Representatives, the first time they've introduced laws fully dedicated to the topic.

Patrick McHenry stated, "I had hoped to announce an agreement with the senior member (Maxine Waters, the senior Democrat on the committee) on stablecoin legislation. This will not be the case ...... It was the White House's unwillingness to compromise that brought negotiations to a halt again."

Maxine Waters stated the bill was deeply problematic and bad for the U.S. It promotes a race to the bottom by creating 58 different licenses, allowing issuers to include multiple assets in their reserve and allowing corporations such as Meta or Walmart to issue money. He also noted a lack of oversight from the Federal Reserve and lack of provisions on diversity and inclusion.

Waters said that neither the Fed nor the U.S. Treasury Department supports the current bill.