GENIUS Act update: What’s happening with the stablecoin crypto vote?

It looks like the GENIUS Act might advance through the U.S. House of Representatives after all, following some arm-twisting from President Donald Trump. 

On Tuesday, the cryptocurrency legislation looked dead in the water, with 223 lawmakers voting against moving forward with the bill and 196 for it. Thirteen Republicans joined Democrats in the nays. But it seems things are unlikely to stay that way following a White House meeting later in the day. 

“I am in the Oval Office with 11 of the 12 Congressmen/women necessary to pass the GENIUS Act and, after a short discussion, they have all agreed to vote tomorrow morning in favor of the Rule,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. House Speaker Mike Johnson phoned into the meeting and apparently plans to introduce another vote swiftly. 

Highly watched ‘Crypto Week’

If passed, the GENIUS Act would regulate stablecoins, or those tied to stable assets like the dollar. It’s one of three bills blocked in Tuesday’s vote and is appearing during the House’s “Crypto Week.” The term was coined by the U.S. House of Representatives’ leadership to highlight the proposed crypto-friendly legislation. 

There’s also the CLARITY Act, which would allow the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate cryptocurrencies, thus continuing to legitimize the industry, while the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would block the Federal Reserve from “issuing a central bank digital currency (i.e., a digital dollar),” the bill states. 

The trio’s uncertainty has led to some turmoil in the stock market for crypto-adjacent companies.

For example, the relatively newly public company Circle Internet Group stock (NYSE: CRCL), which issues stablecoins, lost about 5% of its value following Tuesday’s vote. 

However, Wednesday morning saw Circle’s stock rise again, increasing by nearly 4% in premarket trading as of this writing.

This story is developing…