Senate Passes GENIUS Act Without ‘Poison Pill’ Amendments

In a watershed moment for the digital asset industry, the U.S. Senate this week passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act (S. 1582) without the “poison pill” amendments that credit unions fought to exclude. The legislation passed by a 68-30 vote.  

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., offered Credit Card Competition Act text to create new credit card interchange mandates, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., offered an amendment to cap credit card interest rates at 10%. Both amendments were excluded from the final bill.  

“That the amendments were excluded from GENIUS Act – a landmark bill that establishes federal guardrails for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins – is a both a credit union advocacy win, and notably, a win for consumers, small businesses, and all financial institutions,” said Caroline Willard, president/CEO of Cornerstone League.   

The GENIUS Act now heads to the House of Representatives, which has been working on its own bipartisan bill focused on creating a regulatory framework for digital assets. The House will need to pass its version of the bill before it heads to the president’s desk for approval.  

If signed into law, the stablecoin bill would require tokens to be backed by liquid assets such as U.S. dollars and short-term Treasury bills, and for issuers to publicly disclose the composition of their reserves on a monthly basis.