The U.S. Senate's stablecoin regulation bill, which aimed to regulate stablecoins like Circle's USDC and Tether's USDT, failed to make significant progress on Thursday due to strong resistance from Democrats.
Despite receiving broad bipartisan approval in the Senate Banking Committee, the bill stalled at the technical voting stage, securing only 48 votes instead of the 60 needed to advance to the debate phase. Senate Majority Leader John Thune strategically voted "no" to allow the bill to be revisited in the future.
Opponents of the bill succeeded in blocking its progress at this stage, as the next step would have required just 60 votes for debate to proceed. However, once the bill clears the Senate, it could be passed with a simple majority. Republicans could push the bill through on their own by rallying their full members. Some Democrats, particularly Senator Ruben Gallego, who received significant support from the crypto industry in the 2024 election, raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest due to President Trump's ties to the crypto sector.
