Democrats had sought to amend the bill to prohibit the president, vice president, and senior government officials from directly or indirectly profiting from a stablecoin venture while in office. In recent weeks, Trump has generated outrage by hosting an exclusive dinner with the president for the top buyers of his personal $TRUMP meme coin, raising corruption, ethics and security concerns. His businesses have moved to expand investments in bitcoin while at the same time his administration is working to reduce regulation of the industry and weaken enforcement against certain cryptocurrency crimes.
Republicans balked at that provision, however, shielding Trump and forcing Democrats who supported the legislation, some of whom had received significant financial backing from the crypto industry, to back down.
[...]
[Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.)] 2024 Senate campaign was aided by $10 million from super PACs financed by three large crypto companies, including the Coinbase digital currency exchange. The money financed positive ads in support of the Arizona Democrat. He’s now one of the strongest advocates of the GENIUS Act in the Senate.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who benefited from the super PAC spending millions against former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) in a primary, is also a leading advocate. So is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who is chairing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee this cycle.
Other Democrats who backed the GENIUS Act said their support for the measure had nothing to do with the crypto industry’s massive 2024 campaign spending.
HuffPo
Yeah, right.
“I got no help from the crypto industry,” said Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.). “I have had no real engagements with that industry, on any political side, you know, I’m just trying to think through this problem that we have right now, which is that, North Korea right now, and cartels and terrorist groups, they are already exploiting this technology for billions of dollars worth of illicit financing, and I want to stop that. So that’s, you know, that’s something that we’re going to try to do.”
[...]
Kim had less need for similar backup since he was elected to a safe seat in reliably blue New Jersey. But other Democrats who didn’t face reelection also voted for the bill on Wednesday.
[Elizabeth] Warren and other critics of the bill said not only was voting for it tantamount to endorsing Trump’s corruption in office, but that it would weaken financial stability. The bill’s haters and supporters agree it would turbocharge the market for stablecoins by putting stablecoin issuers under the supervision of bank regulators.
[...]
One controversial provision of the bill addresses what would happen if a stablecoin issuer goes bankrupt. Part of the section puts stablecoin holders ahead of other claims in terms of gets paid first, potentially including bank depositors whose deposits are insured by the federal government.
“It’s a way to make sure that U.S. taxpayers bail out any stablecoin shortfalls,” said Warren, an expert on bankruptcy law. “The provision puts people holding stablecoins ahead of depositors in banks. The federal government won’t let those depositors fail, which means the stablecoin guys get theirs first.”
Vote record on the GENIUS Act
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