Washington – A vote to advance a major bill on the regulation of cryptography in the Senate failed on Thursday, the Democrats uniting to block the measure after the standby point of bipartite negotiations.
Voting on the Act on Engineering – which would create the first American regulatory framework for stable transmitters, or digital tokens set for currencies like the dollar – was 48-49. Sense. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., And Rand Paul, R-ky., Joined all the Democrats present to oppose the procedural vote. The head of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, RS.D., also voted “no” so that he could more easily bring back the field bill to a later date.
The legislation needed 60 votes to go to the final adoption in the Senate, where the Republicans hold a majority of 53-47.
The Senatoric Banking Committee had adopted the law on engineering in April with the support of five Democrats. But after Thune declared that the Chamber would quickly take the measure, the head of the minority of the Senate Chuck Schumer, Dn.y., and Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., The rank of the banking committee, urged the Democrats in private to hold their vote to extract more concessions from the Republicans, according to three people with a direct knowledge of their comments.
Democrats were looking for explicit provisions prohibiting members of the executive power, including President Donald Trump and his family, to own or negotiate cryptocurrencies and stronger anti-corruption provisions.
Before the vote, Senator Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Who had been involved in the ongoing negotiations around the legislation, asked for unanimous consent to delay the vote on Monday and jump one of the procedural steps to keep the Senate on the right track to adopt the bill next week.
Warren rejected the request after declaring Thursday that she would not vote to advance the bill without receiving the updated legislative text which reflects the progress of recent negotiations.
Asked on which language must be finalized in the negotiations, Gallego said that a key democratic request, adding a provision to prohibit elected officials from issuing stablecoins, was nixé in negotiations.
“Many of us have recognized that this made the task very difficult for the Republicans. … There were questions about constitutionality,” said Gallego about the provision.
Changes have been made to legislation at the request of democrats after being reported outside the committee, in particular by preserving the state regulation authority for the stablecoins issued abroad and by expanding the surveillance of suspicious transactions and reports for stablecoin users, according to two familiar people with the process.
After the vote, Thune said there would have been opportunities for the Democrats to modify the bill if they had authorized the process to take the next step on the Senate soil.
“If the Democrats were interested in other changes, as they claim, they would have had the chance to make these changes on the ground, all they had to do was vote for cloture,” said Thune. “All the invoices that come to the ground are not a final invoice.”
On the republican side, Hawley had declared that without a provision prohibiting technological companies from having stablecoins, he was not comfortable supporting the bill.
And Paul said that he opposed the legislation due to the fears of over-regulation.
“I am not a very big fan of the period of federal regulations, and even less to start a brand new system for a brand new industry that exists and seems to go well without federal regulations.” Paul told journalists on Tuesday.
Bipartite negotiations do not give an agreement
Hours of negotiations between a bipartite group of senators focused on the crypto took place this week, from Wednesday at the office of the president of the bank committee Tim Scott, Rs.C. The list of participants included meaning. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Mark Warner, D-VA.; Kirsten Gillibrand, dn.y.; Angela Alsobrooks, D-MD and Gallego, according to three sources familiar with Reunion.
Hagerty led negotiations with the Democrats who voted for committee legislation, but then went back on their support. In a press release, these democrats have cited “many problems that must be resolved, in particular by adding stronger provisions on the fight against money laundering, foreign issuers, national security, preservation of the security and solidity of our financial system and the responsibility of those who do not meet the requirements of the law.”
The change of democratic support comes after an investment company supported by Abu-Dhabi announced last month that it will invest billions of dollars in the crypto venture of Trump, World Liberty Financial. The news of the investment triggered the backlash of the Democrats of the Senate, who argued that it was “proof” that the president uses his office to get rich. And this occurs after Trump organized a collection of $ 1.5 million fundraising on Monday with a high -level cryptography -oriented plate and technological entrepreneurs.
“Gras opportunities – in which the Trump administration offers favors to water or binance in exchange for their massive payments – are astounding,” said meaning. Warren and Jeff Merkley, D-ear. (Binance is an exchange of Crypto-Printenty.)
Warren and Gillibrand signed Merkley’s legislation which would prohibit presidents, legislators and their families to benefit financially, to issue, approve or sponsor cryptographic assets, including stablecoins. The end Crypto Corruption Act directly targets Trump and family cryptography companies, including non-traditional cryptocurrency efforts such as Trump’s dinner and the White House private visit for the best investors in his memes room, $ Trump.
Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Joined the choir of Democrats calling for legislation that specifically targets memes parts like $ Trump, presenting his own broader proposal, as well as representative Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., To suppress federal officials to use their position to take advantage of digital assets.
The inter-annoyance effort of the Democrats in the Senate would probably fail in the Senate controlled by the GOP. But Senator John Kennedy, R-La., Said he would be in favor of the ban on “all civil servants” to use their positions to take advantage of cryptocurrency.
The Genius Act does not touch the pieces even, a different type of cryptocurrency which derives its value from the Internet culture rather than a utility or an underlying asset. But supporters of the legislation argue that the bill has protections against money laundering and fraud.
The Republicans, on the other hand, heard the technological entrepreneur David Sacks for more than an hour on Wednesday, according to several senators who attended the briefing.
“Well, we had a good conversation yesterday,” said Senator Rick Scott, R-Fla., Who supports the legislation. “Everyone must understand, exchanging bitcoin is completely different from stablecoin.” (Bitcoin is not set for fiduciary currency, like the US dollar.)
When asked if most members of the Congress understand what different digital active ingredients are and how they are used, Senator Jon Husted, R-Ohio, Gloussa.
“It’s a great question. I can’t talk about others. I know I had to spend a lot of time there to really understand the problem,” he said. “There is no regulatory regime around that right now. It’s the Far Wild West, and we want to start recognizing that we need security around that. ”
