Rep. Waters unveils bipartisan stablecoin bill ahead of House subcommittee hearing

Ranking member of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters has released proposed stablecoin legislation she and her colleague Patrick McHenry drafted during the previous session of Congress. She unveiled the bill on Feb. 10, the day before the Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Asset, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence is scheduled to meet.

The Waters-McHenry bill does not have a name yet. The lawmakers prepared the bill as a bipartisan team and had hoped it could be considered by the 118th Congress. McHenry retired as chair of the committee at the end of the congressional session.

The bill is not what the committee is waiting for

A press release from the Financial Services Committee Democrats said the bill created a regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers. It prevents non-financial commercial companies from issuing stablecoins and imposes restrictions. In addition, it includes consumer protections. 

The bill also “protects the existing authorities of the Treasury, CFPB, SEC, and CFTC with respect to any entity covered by the Act.” This is problematic, as the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) is under fire from the new administration. At the time of writing, that agency’s homepage displays a 404:Page Not Found error message.

Water’s goal in releasing the draft bill is not immediately evident. The agenda for the Feb. 11 Financial Services subcommittee meeting includes a discussion of the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act, but not the Waters-McHenry bill. 

The Senate has the GENIUS Act on stablecoins

The STABLE Act, authored by Republicans French Hill and Bryan Steil, was released on Feb. 7. A press release from the Financial Services Committee said it builds on McHenry’s efforts. Hill is now the chair of the committee and Steil is the chair of the digital assets subcommittee.

The committee promised in its press release to work with Senate members in the Bicameral Working Group on Digital Assets to pass stablecoin legislation. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS Act) was introduced into the Senate on Feb. 4.

The Senate bill was drafted by Bill Hagerty and co-sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, Democratic Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis.

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