The Senate Banking Committee will hold a committee vote on May 14 on a comprehensive crypto market-structure bill that establishes rules of the road for stablecoins, custody, and broader digital-asset activities. The move represents a clear defeat for the traditional banking lobby, which has fought the legislation on the grounds that stablecoin yield/reward mechanisms still encroach on bank deposit franchises.
Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) has secured near-unanimous Republican support on the 13-member panel. A last-minute compromise drafted by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) has brought Coinbase and major stablecoin issuers on board by carving out a narrow safe harbor for rewards that are structured not to compete directly with bank savings-account yields. Banks, however, continue to argue the language “falls short” of protecting deposits and have signaled they will keep fighting.
The bill was originally scheduled for January advancement but was pulled after dual lobbying pressure from both industries. Its revival now, with crypto industry alignment, indicates the political window is closing fast. While the committee vote is expected to fall along party lines, sponsors have already telegraphed that further tweaks are possible between committee passage and a potential Senate floor vote. Open questions remain on Democratic support—particularly around provisions limiting politicians’ personal digital-asset trading—and whether the House will accept the Senate product without major changes. Time pressure is acute; legislative calendars are tightening.
For markets, this is the highest-conviction regulatory signal since the 2024 election cycle. The bill does not create a full “crypto act” but delivers the first credible U.S. federal framework for stablecoins—the on-ramp asset class that underpins DeFi, payments, and tokenized real-world assets. Passage at committee level alone removes a major overhang that has capped institutional capital deployment for 18 months.
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