Democrat Warner backs stablecoin bill ahead of key Senate vote

U.S. senators are preparing to vote Monday on whether to advance landmark stablecoin legislation, following new Democratic support for the bill after earlier negotiations failed.

The Senate will hold a cloture vote — a procedural step to advance legislation — on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, or GENIUS Act. The bill stalled earlier this month after receiving no Democratic backing, but Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., signaled support Monday, calling the proposal a “meaningful step forward.”

Warner also addressed his concerns, along with other Democrats, about President Donald Trump's ties to crypto, but said legislation is still needed. 

"We cannot allow that corruption to blind us to the broader reality: blockchain technology is here to stay," Warner said. 

"We have a responsibility to ensure it happens safely, transparently, and in a way that advances U.S. economic and national security interests," he added. "The GENIUS Act will help get us started.” 

Republicans have been working to bring Democrats on board in recent days. The legislation needs 60 votes to move forward, making bipartisan support essential. Key sticking points for Democrats have included anti-money laundering standards and provisions governing foreign issuers.

President Donald Trump's crypto involvement has complicated matters given his ties to decentralized finance platform World Liberty Financial's launch of a stablecoin.

Late last week, some Democrats touted wins following those negotiations involving big tech, consumer protections, and ethics, according to a document obtained by Punchbowl News. Those wins included ensuring that conflicts of interest standards would apply to "regular and special government employees, including Elon Musk." However, that does not seem to apply to Trump, as Mark Hays, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, said last week. 

The Senate bill looks to require stablecoins to have 100% reserve backing with U.S. dollars and other similarly liquid assets, as well as annual audits with more than $50 billion in market capitalization, among other requirements. It also includes language around foreign issuance in the U.S. After the cloture vote, if it advances, lawmakers need to take votes on changes to the bill and take steps to get a final vote on the bill. 

On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., will tell the Senate that the bill doesn't do anything to address Trump's involvement and criticized USD1, the stablecoin recently launched by World Liberty Financial.

"But some supporters say that’s because the corruption is already happening and this bill won’t make it any worse," Warren said in a prepared speech. "That’s wrong. The GENIUS Act will accelerate Trump’s corruption by supercharging the size of the stablecoin market and the reach and profitability of USD1."

Warren also said that the bill still allows for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and billionaire Elon Musk to issue their own currencies.

"Community banks have warned us that by creating a parallel, lightly regulated banking system, the stablecoin market will drain deposits from our local communities. There will be less funding available for small businesses and households across our country," Warren said. "So if this bill becomes law, Congress will be responsible if a handful of giants take control of our money and then access and abuse troves of valuable consumer spending data."

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting from the crypto industry to move forward with GENIUS. Stand with Crypto, which was instrumental in November in raising money for crypto-friendly politicians, said that it would be "scoring this vote as a key vote," in a post on X on Monday. 

Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO at the Solana Policy Institute, said "signs point positive" ahead of Monday's planned vote. 

"To me it seems like the folks are there," Whitehouse-Levine said in an interview with The Block. "Warner wouldn't be putting out a statement of support if he weren't there, so I think all signs point positive."

At the same time, things are moving quickly, he later added. 

"All of this is changing by the hour in substantive ways, so I would just take everything with a grain of salt," he said. 

Update: May 19, 8 p.m. UTC to include Warren's remarks