The GENIUS Act eliminates some proposed amendments and is likely to be passed next week, Bloomberg reports

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said Wednesday that he aims to pass the bill within days and hopes the House will move quickly to send it to be signed into law by President Donald Trump, according to the report.

The Senate voted 68-27 Wednesday to advance the bipartisan GENIUS Act, which would create a clear and comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins, Bloomberg reported.

The vote eliminated some proposed amendments to the bill and made it likely that the final passage of the bill will come next week, the outlet reported.

Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday that he aims to pass the bill within days and hopes the House will move quickly to send it to be signed into law by President Donald Trump.

In remarks prepared for delivery on the Senate floor before the vote, the GENIUS Act’s sponsor, Bill Hagerty, R-Tennessee, said the legislation will create a clear and comprehensive regulatory framework for stablecoins.

Hagerty said the bill’s provisions will protect consumers, promote innovation, facilitate cross-border payments, increase efficiencies in capital markets and drive demand for U.S. Treasuries.

“If we fail to act now, not only will these benefits slip away — we will also fall behind in global competitiveness,” Hagerty said in his remarks. “Without a regulatory framework, stablecoin innovation will proliferate overseas — not in America!”

An opponent of the GENIUS Act, Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, said on the Senate floor before the vote that the bill poses a threat to the country’s financial system, national security and democracy.

The bill in its current form would facilitate corruption, allow conglomerates to take over the money supply, drain deposits from community banks, enable easier access to money for illicit activity, increase the likelihood of scams targeting consumers and threaten the financial system, she said.

“The bill permits stablecoin issuers to invest in risky assets and allows them to engage in risky non-stablecoin activities, like private credit or derivatives trading,” Warren said. “At the same time, the bill constrains regulators’ ability to apply capital and liquidity safeguards to limit the chances of stablecoin failure.”

The GENIUS Act, which stands for the bipartisan GENetic Innovation and Stablecoins Useful in Spending Act, is a version of the Stablecoin TEthering and Riskless Innovation (SETRI) Act, which the House Financial Services Committee approved in May.

The bill would create a licensing regime for stablecoins, requiring issuers to meet capital and liquidity requirements and to register with the Federal Reserve. It would also give the Fed the authority to set standards for stablecoins and to monitor their activities.

The House is expected to vote on its own version of the stablecoin bill next.