Coinbase CEO pushes congress to pass stablecoin bill before August

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says congress needs to quickly advance its stablecoin and market structure bills amidst the FIT21 momentum, hoping to have both passed before August. In a recent post, the Coinbase CEO called for immediate action from congress in advancing its stablecoin and market structure draft legislations. He believes that the momentum built through the discussion surrounding FIT21’s momentum in the House will propel the bill further. FIT21 or Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act is a bill in the United States that aims to clarify the regulatory framework for digital assets, particularly cryptocurrencies. It is meant to clarify whether the SEC or CFTC have jurisdiction over crypto. While it was rejected in May 2024 under the Biden administration, House lawmakers have recently revived it through the release of a discussion draft of a market structure bill, which is essentially a successor to FIT21, aiming to set clear boundaries for crypto. “We also welcome House efforts to build on FIT21’s momentum. Both chambers need to act now if we hope to pass comprehensive legislation into law before August,” said Armstrong in his post. Congress has a real opportunity this week to advance stablecoin and market structure legislation. We strongly support the Senate starting debate on the GENIUS Act — and we need 60 votes to get there. We also welcome House efforts to build on FIT21’s momentum. Both chambers need... At the moment, the Senate is currently mulling over the GENIUS Act, a bill is designed to bring legal clarity to the stablecoin market that now accounts for more than $240 billion in market value, with heavyweights like Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) leading the charge. It needs at least 60 votes to advance to the next phase of legislation. Despite initially garnering bipartisan support, the bill recently received push-back from nine Senate Democrats who declared they would not support the landmark stablecoin bill, due to concerns regarding what they perceived as a lack of anti-money laundering and national security safeguards. Previously, major industry figures such as Satoshi Act Fund co-founder Dennis Porter and chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Senator Tim Scott, have both predicted that crypto market legislations will be formalized into law by at least August 2025. So far, the White House has two stablecoin bills underway, the STABLE Act and the GENIUS Act, with the latter progressing further. On April 3, 2025, the STABLE Act passed through the House Financial Services Committee markup hearing by a vote of 32-17. However, it still needs to pass through the House of Representatives and then the Senate before it can become law. According to a Nansen report, Coinbase is one of the firms that will benefit most from the stablecoin regulations, as the company is already focused on compliance and is not attached to any strong ecosystems.