'Crypto week' unravels in US

The crypto industry was headed for a landmark moment in the US House with three bills that it helped push going to a vote. But a coalition of ultraconservative House Republicans staged a mutiny, write David Yaffe-Bellany, Robert Jimison and Michael Gold from Washington

- David Yaffe-Bellany, Robert Jimison and Michael Gold

It was supposed to be “crypto week” on Capitol Hill.

Republicans in the House of Representatives had scheduled back-to-back votes this week on three bills supported by the cryptocurrency industry, a suite of legislation with the potential to cement crypto’s status as a cornerstone of mainstream commerce. There were crypto ads in major newspapers, crypto billboards at local bus stops across Washington and even crypto-themed chocolate bars in Capitol vending machines.

Then the industry’s plans started to unravel.

A coalition of ultraconservative House Republicans staged a mutiny on the House floor and voted to kill a procedural motion, demanding that lawmakers engineer a way to combine certain aspects of the legislation. A process meant to be a formality had thrust the House into chaos.

Now the crypto industry's ambitious legislative agenda is in limbo. House Republicans had scheduled a final vote on the Genius Act, a key crypto bill that had already been passed by the Senate and appeared to be on a glide path to President Trump's desk. It is no longer clear whether that legislation, which creates rules for a type of digital currency known as a stablecoin, will go to the House floor for a vote this week. An even more expansive bill titled the Clarity Act, laying out an entirely new regulatory framework for crypto, also faces potential delays.

They had both been slated for votes alongside a third bill backed by the industry that would stop the US government from issuing its own digital currency.

“Tt was a tactical mistake to put all these bills together,” said Zack Shapiro, the head of policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute. “That was more about optics than about good policy and politics.”