Crypto bills stall in House as procedural vote fails

A procedural vote that would have cleared the way for lawmakers to pass monumental cryptocurrency legislation has failed.

On the House floor on Tuesday, lawmakers voted 196 to 223 against moving forward with voting on three bills that were scheduled for votes this week. A House aide told The Block that they will try again later at 5 p.m. ET. A person familiar with the matters also said something similar. 

In what is being called "Crypto Week," the House of Representatives was slated to consider the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins ("GENIUS") Act, as well as the Digital Asset Market Clarity ("Clarity") Act.

GENIUS, which has already been passed in the Senate, would require stablecoins to be fully backed by U.S. dollars or similarly liquid assets, mandate annual audits for issuers with a market capitalization exceeding $50 billion, and establish guidelines for foreign issuance. That bill could be at Trump's desk before the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Clarity takes a whole-of-crypto approach and would create a clear regulatory framework for crypto in part through designating how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will regulate. The bill also requires digital asset firms to provide retail financial disclosures and segregate corporate and customer funds.

The House was also scheduled to consider a bill this week led by Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., to block the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency directly to individuals.

Twelve Republicans voted no, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Chip Roy, Michael Cloud and Ann Paulina Luna, among others, according to reporting from The Hill. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that critics wanted to have all of the crypto bills into one product. 

Punchbowl News' Laura Weiss said in a post on X that Rep. Roy voted no over concerns about the lack of a "hard ban on CBDCs." Weiss also reported that Rep. Luna said no because "it would’ve allowed crypto bill to come to the floor with a 'back door' to a central bank digital currency," in a post on X.

Earlier in the day, Rep. Greene posted on X concerns over the GENIUS Act's treatment of CBDCs. 

"The GENIUS Act does not follow President Trump’s executive order because it does not ban a CBDC. House Leadership did not allow any amendments banning a CBDC," she said in the post. "This should NOT be tolerated."

Cody Carbone, Digital Chamber CEO, pushed against that assertion in a post on X after the vote. 

"The Anti CBDC Surveillance Act (which is also up for a vote) specifically does just this," Carbone said. "Come on now."

An X account belonging to the Democrats' House Financial Services Committee, which has previously called this week "Anti-Corruption Week," mocked their counterparts in a post.  

"If you’re going to declare a 'crypto week' maybe make sure your entire caucus is on board first? Idk, just a thought," they said. 

Updated at 7:10 p.m. UTC time on July 15 to include more details 

Updated at 8:05 p.m. UTC time on July 15 to include Carbone's comments