Bitcoin, Ether Bounce Back As House Passes Procedural Vote On ‘Crypto Week’ Bills

After yesterday’s disappointment – and a meeting with President Trump – conservative Republicans flip-flopped and voted to push forward with landmark cryptocurrency legislation.

As The Block reports, The House voted 215 to 211 on Wednesday to move forward and later take a vote on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (also known as the GENIUS bill), which would create a regulatory framework for stablecoins and could be slated to head to President Donald Trump’s desk before the end of the week. 

Lawmakers also voted to proceed with the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or Clarity for short, that takes a whole-of-crypto approach and would create a clear regulatory framework for crypto in part through designating how the SEC and CFTC will regulate.

They also agreed to later vote on a bill to block the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) directly to individuals, which was reportedly the most critical itemn for the conservative Republicans yesterday. 

No Democrats voted yes to move forward with the bills. 

The vote pushed Bitcoin higher (after yesterday’s disappointment)…

And sent Ethereum soaring even higher (notably outperforming its big brother this week)…

Is The ETH/BTC ratio set to retake Election levels and beyond?

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, posted on X during the vote that the caucus would be voting in favor and that they had agreed to meet later to add CBDC provisions into Clarity. 

“This is an important step to ensure Americans are protected from government overreach into their financial privacy,” Harris said. 

Punchbowl News reported that Rep. Greene originally voted no for moving forward with the bills, but later changed her vote to yes. 

Earlier in the day, Greene said she would not vote for it, again signalling concerns over CBDC bans. 

“The only way to guarantee a ban on a central bank digital currency is through law,” Greene posted on X ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

“The GENIUS Act does not ban CBDC or maintain people’s chain of custody.”

During a press conference earlier on Wednesday, House Democrats urged lawmakers to vote no on Clarity. Top Democrat of the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters called the Clarity and GENIUS “two of the most dangerous pieces of legislation.”

“Let’s be clear, these bills are a gift-wrapped invitation for Trump to continue his full-scale crypto con,” she said.

Next, lawmakers will take votes on the bills.

Both Clarity and the anti-CBDC bill would have to be passed by the Senate before becoming law. GENIUS has already been passed by the Senate, so it would go to Trump’s desk.