Crypto Runs Into Make-or-Break Vote In DC (Again)
Crypto's big stablecoin bill is set to face another huge vote this week
It all comes down to this: A salvaged vote on the massive stablecoin bill in Washington D.C that could spark a gargantuan spike in dollars moving onchain.
After failing to clear the necessary votes in the first go-around earlier this month, it appears that Republican and Democratic leadership in their respective pro-crypto caucuses did enough explaining to try again this week.
Notably, New York Senator Kiersten Gillibrand, who voted against the bill durign the last vote despite co-sponsoring the bill last time, expressed her renewed support over the weekend.
“The bipartisan GENIUS Act will provide regulatory clarity to this important industry, keep innovation on shore, add robust consumer protection, and reaffirm the dominance of the U.S. dollar. The crafting of this bill has been a true bipartisan effort and I’m optimistic we can pass it in the coming days,” she said.
But nothing is ever guaranteed in Washington, so let’s dig deeper into why this is so important and what to watch. Plus, Solana’s big crypto conference is descending on New York this week. (If you’re in NYC, come hang at a pop-up we’ll be at, or say hi on the floor where we’ll be hosting interviews.)
Why the Stablecoin Bill Matters
Let’s remember just how big of a bet the crypto industry made on Trump: The industry spent more money lobbying than any other sector in America. And now, crypto companies want something to show for it. The long-assumed easiest thing to get done was this stablecoin bill. That was because even in an election year, somehow Democrats and Republicans came together in late 2024 to rebuke the SEC’s rules under Gary Gensler preventing banks from touching crypto.
The House and the Senate voted in bi-partisan fashion to rebuke the SEC’s rule making, and it took a Biden veto to block it.
Post-election, it was expected to only get easier for politicians to continue working across the aisle. That was — until Trump started co-opting the pro-crypto agenda for himself with his family’s own crypto endeavors. Suddenly, Dems started getting cold feet. But now, it appears that things are back on the rails (assuming Trump’s memecoin or stablecoin don’t once again become the talk of the town.)
And if the vote does successfully push the bill forward, crypto could be pacing for a massive shot in the arm. Or, if it doesn’t — a true gut punch. But will it play into prices at all? For answers, we turned to Coinage NFT holder and top crypto analyst Fundstrat’s Sean Farrell. As he sees it, the bill’s vote is essentially a heat check on how much weight Congress is putting on these issues.
If the GENIUS Act passes, “perhaps some speculative capital would, you know, increase theirprobabilistic weighting on a [Strategic Bitcoin Reserve] getting across the finish line this year,” Farrell tells us. And if odds of the US buying Bitcoin go up because of this vote, then Bitcoin presumably goes up, too.
WATCH: Sean Farrell on the crypto market right now ⬇️
ETH Finally Making A Stand?
Elsewhere in crypto, Farrell is keeping an eye on the relative ETH/BTC trading pair.
He’s been generally bearish on Ethereum, but that seems to be turning a corner since Ethereum’s latest upgrade. That could lead to outperformance by Ethereum after what has been an egregiously tough period.
“Right now we have our eyes on set on that 100-day moving average for ETH/BTC which, you know, all else equal, if Bitcoin were to stay around this $104K level, that would put us north of $3,000, around $3,100. But of course, you know we do think there's further upside in Bitcoin here.”
Our Trip Into The Belly of the Beast
We can finally share more about Coinage’s trip to meet with The Crypto Task Force. It went great, and we actually teamed up with various other builders, including the co-founder of ETHDenver to push the SEC to clarify rules around builders like us trying to bring registered co-operatives onchain.
You might say, “Why does that matter?” And we are glad you asked!
We put together a whole episode on our trip down there, but tl;dr basically even the SEC agrees now that there has to be a path for crypto projects to pass upside back to users. We believe the US coop model already allows for this, and it’s how Coinage set ourselves up to pay patronage dividends back to readers like you you want to join us as co-owners in the brand.
Come Say Hi At Accelerate
This week, to celebrate Solana’s conference, our $PLYBTN memecoin community was hit with an interesting proposition: “Do you want to sell something at our Solana pop-up store?”
And when Solana’s leading retail space asks that, you don’t delay. So we whipped up a miracle of a product. You can buy yours at the Solana spaces store at 57 Stanton, or you can wait to see the impact of selling a product IRL using onchain payment rails.
And considering the candles that we’re selling can also be purchased at a discount when paying in PLYBTN, we’re hoping to see an uptick in PLYBTN activity. We shall see if that all pans out in Episode 4 in our series.
In any case, that’s it for now. Stay tuned to Coinage.Media for more interviews and updates from Solana’s big conference as it gets kicked off this week!