US House Committee releases new stablecoin bill draft

The United States House Financial Services Committee has released the third draft of the stablecoin bill presented by the Republican chair Patrick McHenry. The latest draft of the bill is aimed at bipartisan legislation and includes certain proposals from both Republican and Democratic financial services committees. 

The draft bill titled “The Future of Digital Assets: Providing Clarity for the Digital Asset Ecosystem” was first proposed on June 8 and is expected to be discussed during the upcoming committee hearing on June 13.

The latest version of the bill proposes Federal Reserve as the key regulator tasked with formulating requirements for issuing stablecoins. However, at the same time, the bill aims to offer state regulators powers to oversee the companies issuing the tokens.

The bill further discusses legislation on who can issue these stablecoins and the requirements of a payment stablecoin. If approved the bill will offer first comprehensive guidance on the supervision and enforcement of stablecoin markets. The bill also proposes a two-year moratorium for collateralized stablecoins from the date of enactment.

If approved by the U.S. House of Financial Services Committee and the US Senate, the bill would become the first form of crypto legislature in the U.S.

Related: Stablecoins are the solution to crypto’s banking problem, exec says

The latest version also grants a few additional authorities to the Federal regulator compared to the previous bill. These additional powers include the power to intervene against state-regulated issuers in cases of emergency. On the other hand, States could also pass their supervision duties over to the federal watchdog if they deem it necessary.

The previous version of the draft bill was issued on April 24 and focused on stablecoin payments rather than overseeing other aspects of digital asset markets such as custodial service providers and algorithmic stablecoins. And the latest version of the bill has become more concise while granting certain powers to the state legislature as well.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom