The U.S. created history after the Financial Services Committee passed the “Clarity for Payments Stablecoin” bill with a 34-19 vote, making it the second significant piece of crypto legislation to pass the Committee this week. The bill received support from five Democrats: Rep. Himes, Rep. Gottheimer, Rep. Meeks [D-NY], Rep. Torres, and Rep. Nickel.
But lawmakers irrespective of parties have unanimously voiced concern about the possibility of tech titans like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg taking over the stablecoins industry.
According to Representative Maxine Waters, the committee’s top Democrat, Elon Musk’s “Twitter X to establish itself as a global payments provider via the issuance, directly or indirectly, of a stablecoin” scenario was “a frightening proposition.” Waters also argued it had “major flaws,” including a loophole that would allow commercial entities to issue their own stablecoin.
Some Republicans have also voiced reservations that the plan doesn’t go far enough in preventing major tech firms from developing their own stablecoins. Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, a Republican, declared:
“To my Republican colleagues, we are currently in the midst of holding Mark Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress while simultaneously in this bill, handing him the keys to an unregulated marketplace, where he will have a competitive advantage against credit unions and community banks.”
The debate has intensified following news that Elon Musk’s Twitter, which just underwent a rebranding as X, has been working on plans and obtaining permits from regulatory bodies to integrate payments into the social network.
“Elon Musk-Led Stablecoin Fear Is Unfounded”
According to MarketWatch, the stablecoin bill is expected to strengthen federal oversight of these cryptocurrencies. However, its future in the full House and Senate is still up in the air despite receiving a green signal from the financial committee. On the other hand, crypto proponents believe the fear is far-fetched.
Maya Zehavi, a Web3 investor, commented, “The only reason Congress initially took an interest in stablecoins was out of fear that Zuck-coin would harm the USD. It’s been 5 years, and the world is very different. Libra was a bad model on multiple fronts; Elon-fear shouldn’t hamper serious legislation.”
The development comes closely after the Financial Services Committee recently passed monumental legislation to create a thorough regulatory framework for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as TronWeekly reported the other day.