Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair French Hill has stated that stablecoin and market structure legislation are "closely interconnected."
Both of these bills would be needed in order to provide sufficient protections for the cryptocurrency market.
As reported by U.Today, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved the GENIUS Act, the bipartisan bill that aims to regulate stablecoins on the federal level.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse previously described it as the most important financial legislation since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that was encted all the way back in 2010.
The stocks of crypto companies like Circle experienced double-digit rallies in response to the passage of the bill.
Merging the bills
It is worth noting that the House has its own stablecoin bill (STABLE Act), and there are discussions to merge the stablecoin legislation with the market-structure bill (the CLARITY Act). The latter introduces broader rules for exchanges, wallets, as well as token classifications. The goal is likely to avoid losing legislative momentum after passing one bill.
The House is in the process of preparing for floor votes on both the STABLE and CLARITY bills. If the bill ends up being merged, the Senate will have to vote on the combined package.
The pro-crypto Republicans aim to pass both of these bills before the August recess, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to secure enough support.
However, combining both bills could complicate the negotiation process with the Democrats. Hence, there is a chance that a potential vote could be delayed to next year.
