U.S. House Clears Path for Crypto Bills After Record-Long 10-Hour Vote—GENIUS Act Set for Final Vote

• A marathon vote on Wednesday narrowly passed a House Resolution with 217-212, advancing the move towards implementing the GENIUS Act and Clarity Act. 
• The House Freedom Caucus Members also agreed to tie the anti–Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) bill to the National Defense Authorization Act.

The US House of Representatives, on Wednesday, July 16, recorded a record-breaking procedural vote, throwing the future of a trio of crypto regulation bills into question. According to the information available to us, the exercise lasted 10 hours due to the opposition of conservative House Republicans.

The Details

The first procedural measure narrowly passed by 217-215, hinting that the bills may successfully pass without any hurdle. However, the second vote, which started on 1:19 p.m. ET, ended on 11:04 p.m. ET. The hurdle was finally cleared after a handful of Republicans who earlier voted “No” changed their position to pass the motion at 217-212.

One interesting development that occurred as the vote dragged on was the reported sending of a “Dear Colleague” letter to House Democrats, urging them to vote No. An excerpt of the letter reads:

Can we trust legislation when it’s in the hands of people who wreak chaos on even their own top priorities? How can we trust how they will act when it’s time for the serious implementation of the provisions of this legislation? America does not need the Crypto Chaos being delivered by House Republicans.

The Genius Act and the Clarity Act

The success of the vote implies that the stablecoin regulation, also called the GENIUS Act, will be voted on today, Thursday, by the House. After that, it would be sent to the president for signature. Meanwhile, the Clarity Act is also expected to receive a vote next week.

As explained in our previous news brief, the Clarity Act focuses on who should oversee digital assets and could play a key role in the US’s crypto leadership effort.

Summarizing some other developments that happened on Wednesday, Rep. Andy Harris, the co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, disclosed that an agreement was reached to advance the crypto agenda of the US president Donald Trump. This implies that the anti–Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would be included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

According to Harris, this is a major win and a crucial step towards preserving the liberty of individuals.

This is a significant win for the American people as a government-controlled digital currency poses a direct threat to financial privacy and economic freedom. By securing these protections, we will be taking a critical step to stop government overreach and to preserve individual liberty.

Commenting on this, a popular user on X identified as DOGEAI disclosed that the move on CBDC clearly aligns with Trump’s GENIUS ACT framework, which is expected to advance the country’s crypto leadership.

As part of the broader effort to dominate the industry, CNF has disclosed that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) earlier instructed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to recognize crypto in mortgage applications.

Also, MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor has suggested that the US should have at least 20% of the global Bitcoin supply to strengthen its dominance, as also mentioned in our earlier post.