By Hannah Lang
(Reuters) – The top Republican and Democrat on the U.S. House Financial Services committee on Thursday said they had failed to come to an agreement on a bill to establish a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to a traditional asset, often the U.S. dollar.
The bill would have the U.S. Federal Reserve write requirements for issuing stablecoins while preserving the authority of state regulators, and was previously modified to address concerns from some Democrats that stablecoin issuers could evade stricter oversight by opting to be regulated under a state regime.
But Representative Patrick McHenry, the chair of the committee, said on Thursday at the outset of a hearing that he had not reached a deal with Representative Maxine Waters, the committee’s top Democrat.
“We had high hopes 48 hours ago that we were going to come to a conclusion and then the White House reviewed where we were and disagreed,” said McHenry.
The stalemate comes just a day after the committee advanced a bipartisan bill that aims to develop a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and clarify when a token is a security or a commodity.
A handful of House Democrats, including Jim Himes and Ritchie Torres, joined committee Republicans in voting for that bill, which is also being considered by the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
