US Senate set for GENIUS stablecoin bill vote this Wednesday: Bloomberg

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has set the stage for a key procedural vote Wednesday on the GENIUS Act, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at regulating stablecoins, Bloomberg reported.

Thune filed cloture on Monday on the underlying bill — the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act — and the bipartisan amendment to it, according to a post on X from the Senate Republican Cloakroom.

Last month, lawmakers voted 66-32 to invoke cloture — a procedural move that clears the way for further debate — on the bipartisan stablecoin bill. Crypto leaders hailed the vote as a "historic" win that could help "ensure U.S. dollar dominance."

In the upcoming vote, the bill must secure at least 60 votes to advance, potentially paving the way for its swift passage.

When passed, the bill would mandate that stablecoins be fully backed by U.S. dollars or similar highly liquid assets. The bill would also mandate annual audits for issuers with market capitalizations exceeding $50 billion.

Furthermore, it introduces provisions for foreign issuers, requiring, for example, foreign stablecoin issuers to possess the technological capacity to comply with lawful orders like seizing and freezing criminal assets.

"Politicians in Washington did the right thing," Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan wrote in a note to clients last month when the Senate advanced the bill. "I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but it looks like we will have our first full-fledged piece of crypto legislation passed in the U.S. by the summer."