With the US President Donald Trump. Concerns about Trump's active involvement in digital assets have grown, with House Democrats reportedly planning to boycott a joint hearing on cryptocurrency legislation scheduled for Tuesday.
Democrats plan to walk out
Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and other Democrats plan to walk out of the hearing, Punchbowl News and Politico reported Monday. A Democratic source close to the House Financial Services Committee confirmed the reports to The Block and revealed that the Democratic Party is planning a counter-roundtable forum.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the office of the committee’s chairman, Republican Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, said bipartisan conversations about regulating the cryptocurrency industry are ongoing.
Joint discussion of FIT21 draft
The House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees will discuss how to regulate cryptocurrencies at a hearing titled "American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets: A Blueprint for the 21st Century (FIT21)." Ahead of the hearing, Republican committee leadership on Monday released a discussion draft of the bill that is similar to legislative frameworks discussed by the committee in past years.
Recently, committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate have also advanced regulatory legislation for stablecoins, but the action has also been resisted by the Democratic Party. 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 that the current version of the bill leaves several unresolved issues. They said in a statement:
"While we are eager to continue working with our colleagues to resolve these issues, we will not be able to support passage of this bill in its current form if it reaches a vote in the Senate."
Trump family exacerbates legislative deadlock
Democrats have expressed concern about the Trump family's growing involvement in cryptocurrencies. In March, Hill was asked about the Trump family’s ties to the industry, including a developing DeFi protocol, active meme coins, and NFTs. Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI) also recently launched its own stablecoin.
French Hill once admitted that the Trump family’s involvement in memecoins and stablecoins “complicates the legislative process.” Maxine Waters directly accused Trump of using the crypto business to enrich himself:
“This committee voted to make Trump the ‘King of Crypto’, passed legislation that would allow him to corner the stablecoin market, kick George Washington off the dollar, and even make his own stablecoin legal tender in the United States. Instead of stopping this scam, you are enabling it. Mr. Chairman, we need to stop Trump before cryptocurrency legislation goes any further.”
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