#GENIUSAct

The Senate voted 66-32 Monday evening to advance first-of-its-kind legislation to regulate “stablecoins,” a kind of cryptocurrency. Democrats had initially voted to block the bill earlier this month amid concerns over President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency deals.

The legislation, known as the GENIUS Act, is focused on what is known as stablecoin, a digital currency tied to the value of a specific asset – in this case the US dollar. The push for the bill represented a rare bipartisan effort in the Senate for major legislation. But while there has been general agreement across the Senate that regulation is necessary, key Democrats initially balked at moving ahead after demanding changes to the legislation.

Republicans and Democrats had continued negotiating after the bill initially failed to advance, resulting in a new amendment draft over the weekend that garnered enough support among Democrats to move the package forward.