The crypto hearing in the U.S. House set today was rocked by drama when Democratic lawmakers, led by Representative Maxine Waters, walked out in protest. The hearing, titled “American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets: A Blueprint for the 21st Century,” was meant to shape the country’s future crypto rules, but things are not looking good.
| Source: x.com/HouseAgGOP
The protest came just as the House Financial Services Committee and House Agriculture Committee were about to discuss new laws for stablecoins and crypto market structure. Waters and fellow Democrats demanded that the hearing address President Donald Trump’s personal ties to cryptocurrency, especially his connection to the TRUMP coin and a proposed plan for a government-backed “U.S. Crypto Reserve.”
Waters has earlier stated that she wouldn’t support any crypto bill unless it blocked Trump and his family from owning or profiting from crypto ventures. “If there is no effort to block the President of the United States of America from owning his stablecoin business, I will never be able to agree on supporting this bill,” she said.
Instead of staying, Waters and her allies held a separate “shadow hearing,” where they accused Trump of using crypto to benefit himself. Despite the walkout, Republicans and a few Democrats carried on with the hearing. They focused on bills like FIT21, the GENIUS Act, and the Stable Act.
The GENIUS Act had earlier passed a key committee with support from some pro-crypto Democrats. But even that support is now shaky. Senators like Ruben Gallego and Mark Warner, who first backed the bill, are now rethinking.
In a joint statement, four senators said, “The bill, as it currently stands, still has numerous issues that must be addressed.” Here, they point to national security and anti-money laundering risks.
