WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tim Scott, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, told a White House crypto adviser on Thursday that legislation establishing rules for the U.S. crypto markets will be finished by September 30 — later than President Donald Trump had in mind, but earlier than the year-end prediction from one of the leading lawmakers crafting the bill.
At a Thursday press event in his committee’s hearing room, Scott told Trump crypto adviser Bo Hines that the new deadline is possible for the legislation, and expressed agreement with Trump that the U.S. House of Representatives should also quickly sign off on the stablecoin bill the Senate passed last week.
Scott, whose committee recently shared some guidelines for how some senior Republicans want the markets regulations to look, said he intends a timeline “seeing market structure completed before the end of September. I think that is a realistic expectation.”
To that, Senator Cynthia Lummis, who heads the digital assets subcommittee focused on that work, said, “Yes, sir. You’re the chairman, and we will do as you wish.”
Meanwhile, top House lawmakers have been hesitant to announce their own strategy for the two related bills on crypto market structure and stablecoins. The House had been in the lead on the former issue, with its Digital Asset Market Clarity Act having cleared the necessary committees on its way toward the House floor. But Representative French Hill, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee that’s leading the charge, declined to reveal whether the House will move on the Senate’s Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.
Hill signaled this week that he thinks some issues need to be worked out between the GENIUS Act and the House’s own stablecoin legislation, which would suggest a lengthier process that might jeopardize the short-term deadlines the Senate has in mind.
Senator Lummis had only the day before said at a Washington event that she predicted all the crypto legislation would be completed by the end of the year. That suggested a window going much later than President Trump’s wish of finishing by the August congressional break. But even Scott’s Sept. 30 timeline goes longer than Trump requested.
One potential hindrance to a quick process is immediately apparent: There’s no matching sense from the Senate Agriculture Committee, which needs to also weigh in on this major, complex legislation. So far, the Banking Committee has been leading the charge on market structure, but it can’t approve the bill on its own, and Lummis acknowledged after the Thursday event that the process hasn’t been as urgent for that other committee.
For his part, the White House’s Hines said the president favors the House simply signing off on the stablecoin bill the Senate approved, without further work on it, and he praised the timeline commitment made by Scott and Lummis, adding, “I think it’s very clear you both understand what’s happening.”
In a response to a CoinDesk question on working with the House, Scott said the two chambers are “one team.”
“I’ve been very clear that I think the president’s mandate of moving GENIUS Act immediately to his desk is in the best interest of the American people,” Scott said.. “I believe that we can do both in a very time-sensitive matter, and that is why I’ve committed to a deadline.”
He said the House’s market structure bill, the Clarity Act, is a “strong template for us to move forward on.”
Read More: Leading Crypto Senator Sees End of Year as U.S. Legislation Target
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