The leader of the powerful U.S. House Financial Services Committee blamed the Biden White House for nixing a bipartisan deal on stablecoin regulations Thursday.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, said during a markup session of stablecoin legislation that he had hoped to announce a bipartisan agreement on legislation with the the ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, but they were unable to come to an agreement because a lack of “urgency” on the part of the White House.
“This is by no means the fault of the ranking member and her staff,” McHenry said. “They negotiate in good faith,” and have done so for more than a year.
“A bipartisan deal was within reach, we were closer than we’ve ever been,” he added. “It was the White House’s unwillingness to compromise that once again brought negotiations to a halt.”
The Biden administration has been active in negotiations with Congress over stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency that seeks to maintain a stable value relative to the dollar
DXY,
and are often used by crypto traders to park funds not invested in other digital assets. Crypto advocates also predict that stablecoins will become a popular means of payment on the internet.
Popular stablecoins like Tether
USDTUSD,
and USD coin
USDCUSD,
claim to be backed dollar-for-dollar with liquid assets and that users can redeem their stablecoins for U.S. currency at any time.
A White House financial-markets advisory group chaired by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a report in 2021 recommending that stablecoins only be allowed to be issued by insured banks overseeing by federal regulators.
The report expressed fears that stablecoins face the threat of a run on the stablecoin’s assets and could be used for money laundering or financing illicit activities.
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