Table of Contents
Democratic Plan to Boycott
Joint Discussion on FIT21 Draft
Trump Family Escalates Legislative Gridlock
According to reports from Punchbowl News and Politico on Monday, Maxine Waters, the chief Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee in California, and other Democrats plan to collectively boycott a hearing. A Democratic source close to the House Financial Services Committee confirmed these reports to The Block and revealed that Democrats are planning to hold a counter-roundtable discussion.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the office of French Hill, a Republican member from Arkansas on the committee, stated that bipartisan discussions on regulating the cryptocurrency industry are still ongoing.
Joint Discussion on FIT21 Draft
The House Financial Services Committee and the Agriculture Committee will discuss how to regulate cryptocurrency at a hearing titled “The Future of American Innovation and Digital Assets: The 21st Century Blueprint (FIT21).” Prior to the hearing, Republican committee leadership released a draft for discussion on Monday that is similar to legislative frameworks discussed by the committee in recent years.
Recently, committees in the House and Senate have also advanced regulatory legislation for stablecoins, but this action has also faced resistance from Democrats. On Saturday, Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego, Mark Warner, Raphael Warnock, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Catherine Cortez Masto, Andy Kim, Ben Ray Luján, John Hickenlooper, and Adam Schiff issued a statement warning of several unresolved issues with the current version of the bill. They stated:
“While we are eager to continue working with our colleagues to address these issues, we will not be able to support the bill as it currently stands if it comes to a Senate vote.”
Trump Family Escalates Legislative Gridlock
Democrats are increasingly concerned about the Trump family’s involvement in cryptocurrency. In March of this year, Hill was asked about the Trump family’s connections to the industry, including an upcoming DeFi protocol, active meme coins, and NFTs. Trump-supported World Liberty Financial (WLFI) recently launched its own stablecoin.
French Hill admitted that the Trump family’s involvement in meme coins and stablecoins “has made legislative work more complicated.” Maxine Waters went so far as to accuse Trump of using cryptocurrency business to enrich himself:
“The committee voted to make Trump the ‘King of Crypto,’ passing legislation to monopolize the stablecoin market, kick George Washington off the dollar, and even make his own stablecoin the legal tender of the United States. You are not stopping this scam, you are enabling it. We need to stop Trump before further cryptocurrency legislation advances.”
