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Bill to establish stablecoin regulatory framework passes House committee

April 03, 2025

The House Financial Services Committee voted to pass legislation to establish a federal supervisory framework for stablecoins and their issuers.

Background: The Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act of 2025 (H.R. 2392) was introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) and House Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) last week. The committee last acted on stablecoin legislation in July 2023.

ICBA Statement: In a statement before the committee’s markup of the bill, ICBA said:

  • It appreciates the committee’s inclusion of language clarifying that community banks are able to utilize payment stablecoin reserve funds held as deposits to carry out the business of banking.
  • It supports provisions that disallow payment yield or interest on stablecoins, which would create incentives for consumers to shift funds out of community bank deposits.
  • To further protect against community bank disintermediation, permitted payment stablecoin issuers’ activities should be limited and not expanded to include nonpayment stablecoin activities.
  • The committee should remove language allowing reserves to be held in an account at a Federal Reserve Bank to affirm the legislation’s intent to not expand eligibility of Federal Reserve Master Accounts to nonbank issuers and prevent the creation of a pass-through central bank digital currency.

Senate Vote: The House committee vote on the STABLE Act follows the Senate Banking Committee’s recent passage of its stablecoin bill—the GENIUS Act—by a bipartisan vote of 18-6 with changes addressing some of ICBA’s key issues.

ICBA Priorities: ICBA offers an issue brief for community bankers with updates on the status of stablecoin legislation and ICBA’s engagement with lawmakers. ICBA’s stablecoin priorities are:

  • Ensuring Congress does not grant nonbank stablecoin issuers access to Federal Reserve Master Accounts.
  • Permitting community banks to use stablecoin reserve funds held as demand deposits for lending.
  • Barring Big Tech or other commercial firms from issuing stablecoins or affiliating with stablecoin issuers.
  • Providing a defined federal floor for regulatory standards that applies to all issuers.

ICBA Advocacy: ICBA recently submitted statements on its key issues in advance of the Senate GENIUS Act markup and House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on digital assets. ICBA has also encouraged the Trump administration to ensure regulatory clarity for banks and a level regulatory playing field between the banking and crypto sectors.