The US House of Representatives may find a quicker legislative route to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by leveraging a market structure bill that was approved in July.
During a hearing of the House Rules Committee on Monday, a draft agenda revealed a plan to incorporate the text of the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act — which also passed in July, albeit narrowly — into the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
This engrossment approach would attach the CBDC legislation to the final draft of the current market structure bill, which will be sent to the Senate for review.
House Republicans had considered a similar strategy prior to a vote in July on the GENIUS Act — a bill aimed at regulating payment stablecoins. Some lawmakers advocated for the stablecoin bill to explicitly ban CBDCs before the vote, which delayed its passage leading up to the chamber’s August recess. Ultimately, all three bills were approved with some bipartisan backing.
The impact of the engaged House bill that combines market structure with a CBDC ban on Senate legislation remains uncertain.
Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee indicated that their market structure proposal “built on” the CLARITY Act, yet diverged under a different title: the Responsible Financial Innovation Act.
Related: Key Republican senator anticipates Democratic backing for US crypto market structure bill
Senator Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming, a prominent supporter of the market structure bill, reported that the banking committee aimed to pass the legislation by the end of September, with the potential for US President Donald Trump to sign it into law by 2026. At the time of publication, no banking committee vote had been scheduled for the bill.
Senate Democrats propose their own market structure framework
Although Republicans hold sway over both the House and Senate, their narrow majority may necessitate some Democratic support to advance legislation, including the proposed market structure bill.
Both parties presented proposals to modernize regulatory frameworks and offer clarity for the digital asset sector. However, Democrats requested measures to rectify what they termed Trump’s “undermin[ing] confidence in the broader digital asset industry,” referring to Trump’s family crypto ventures.
It was unclear at the time of publication whether Republicans intended to address Trump’s connections to the industry stemming from his family’s mining enterprise, American Bitcoin, World Liberty Financial, and his personal memecoin in the bill. The bill is anticipated to proceed to a committee vote within two weeks.
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