On March 11, 2025, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on the need for a federal framework to govern the issuance and use of payment stable coins and address concerns relating to privacy, consumer protection, criminal activity. and various other risks attendant to the relatively new, promising, unproven and risky technology.
The Full Committee hearing ran about 4 hours and marked the launch of the House’s attempt to craft comprehensive stable coin legislation that will reach the President’s desk this year.
The Committee specifically discussed the STABLE Act, which would establish a federal framework for payment stable coins, and the potential risks of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC). Witnesses, including representatives from The Bank of New York Mellon, Paxos, Stripe, and the Atlantic Council, highlighted the importance of regulatory clarity, state pathways, and cybersecurity measures to foster innovation and protect financial stability. BNY Mellon’s custody standards for stable coins were discussed, emphasizing asset safety and segregation. Paxos and Stripe highlighted the benefits of stable coins, such as reduced remittance costs and increased financial inclusion.
The discussion also touched on the potential impact of CBDCs, and the importance of a clear regulatory framework. Chairman Hill and other Committee Republicans went to great lengths to leverage the hearing against any possibility of a U.S Central Bank Digital Currency. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) took a break from his leadership duties to champion his bill, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, which would prohibit the U.S. Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC.
The hearing came the same week that the Senate Banking Committee voted 18-6 to to advance its own stable coin legislation, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. Chairman Hill has said his intention is “to work in a bicameral fashion with Chairman Scott and Senators Hagerty and Lummis to pass federal payment stable coin legislation and send to President Trump’s desk.”
The presumptive pièce de resistance of the hearing was Caroline Butler, the global head of digital assets for Bank of New York, which Representative Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, called the “ultimate expression of the traditional financial system.” The Bank of New York was founded in 1784, and Butler – as Chairman Hill gleefully noted – is a descendant of non-other than Alexander Hamilton.
That’s right: A blood descendant of the Nation’s first and greatest Secretary of the Treasury, representing one of the nation’s oldest and most venerable of financial institutions, was down from New York, visiting 2129 Rayburn, to tell Congress that her bank is already offering significant services for issuers of stable coins, such as Circle, and that the sector requires clarity from the U.S. government.
In other words, this hearing was a big (and expensive) moment for crypto. It marked another important milestone in the industry’s effort to establish itself as legitimate and real and useful.
As we will explore in a subsequent post, addressing last week’s Banking Committee markup of the GENIUS Act, the utility of the blockchain and digital assets remains an open question in the mind of some policymakers.
However, what is beyond question is that the election of President Trump, and the displacement of two of the industry’s most influential and ardent critics – former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, and former Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – have given crypto opening, and crypto means to seize it.
If you missed the hearing, we’ve got you covered. Here is a detailed hearing report and a complete hearing transcript.
