The voting has been full of twists and turns! The U.S. House of Representatives finally passed a procedural vote to advance three encryption legislation items, and the Genius bill is expected to be signed this week.

Author: Weilin, PANews

On July 17th (local time, Wednesday), the U.S. House of Representatives passed a procedural vote on three major encryption legislation, paving the way for the voting on the "GENIUS Act," "Clarity Act," and "Anti-CBDC Act," which is expected to be voted on again on Thursday local time.

Despite July 14 being heralded as "Crypto Week" in the House of Representatives, the actual voting process has been a rollercoaster. On Tuesday afternoon local time, the House voted 196 to 223 to reject advancing three proposals, with 12 Republicans opposing and expressing concerns over the ambiguity of the "GENIUS Act" regarding CBDCs.

9-hour voting sets a record! 3 proposals ultimately advance, with the Genius proposal progressing the fastest.

On July 17 (local time Wednesday), the latest vote lasted more than 9 hours, setting a record for the procedural voting duration in the House of Representatives. Finally, around 11 PM, House Resolution No. 580 passed the review of multiple bills, with a voting result of 217 votes in favor and 212 votes against. Just a day earlier, this bill unexpectedly failed to pass the procedural vote in the House.

When House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced that the Republicans would attach the CBDC ban to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the previous issue was resolved, ensuring that the CBDC ban would pass alongside the must-pass NDAA, prompting the 8 conservative Republicans who blocked the bill on Tuesday to ultimately change their voting stance.

According to PunchBowl News, after the successful vote, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise stated that the next House vote on these encryption bills will take place on Thursday.

Currently, among the three encryption-related bills, the "GENIUS Act" is considered to be progressing the fastest. This bill aims to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins and was passed by the Senate vote last month. The GENIUS Act may be sent to President Trump for signature before the end of this week.

The other two proposals include the "Digital Asset Market Clarity Act" ( Clarity Act ), which takes a more comprehensive approach to creating a regulatory framework for digital assets, clarifying the regulatory roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Legislators also voted to consider the anti-CBDC bill, aimed at preventing the Federal Reserve from issuing central bank digital currency directly to individuals. Even if passed by the House vote, the Clarity Act and the anti-CBDC bill still need to be voted on in the Senate.

President Trump personally met with lawmakers and called to urge the advancement of the legislative process.

According to a report by Politico, a breakthrough in the stalemate on Wednesday came at the last moment of negotiations, with President Trump calling the office of House Speaker Mike Johnson and expressing satisfaction with the agreement reached.

On the morning of July 15 local time, Trump stated on the social media platform Truth Social, "Happy Crypto Week! The House will soon vote on a major bill aimed at making the United States the undisputed global leader in digital assets," urging House members to proceed with a procedural vote.

However, on Tuesday, the House rejected the proposal to advance the rule by a vote of 196 to 223, with 12 Republicans opposing it and expressing concerns about the ambiguity of the GENIUS Act regarding CBDCs. However, there are provisions in the GENIUS Act that explicitly prohibit the Federal Reserve from creating a CBDC.

After the vote failed, on the evening of July 15, Trump quickly summoned the opposing lawmakers to the White House and announced that he had persuaded all of them to support the measure. On July 16, President Trump posted that he met with 11 congressmen in the Oval Office on July 15 to discuss the legislative rules for the 'GENIUS Act,' and they unanimously agreed to support the rules the following morning.

The time has come to Wednesday, and the initial vote dramatically ended with 215 votes to 211. The voting result was not revealed until the last moment, with a small number of Republicans opposing the rule until a heated exchange of opinions with party leadership on the House floor prompted them to change their vote to "in favor" at the last moment.

However, these Republican members who firmly opposed later withdrew their support during the second "record vote," leaving the House chamber to negotiate with party leadership on a potential agreement to advance the legislation, provided that the wording of the ban on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is revised more explicitly.

Hardline Republicans opposing the procedural vote on the bill are pushing to merge the market structure bill "CLARITY Act" with a partisan legislation that bans central bank digital currencies. Republican Congressman French Hill, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and Pennsylvania Republican Congressman G.T. Thompson oppose this plan, fearing it would weaken Democratic support for the market structure bill.

After Republican leaders indicated they would attach measures to ban CBDCs (which conservatives believe the government-issued digital dollar would open the door to privacy invasions) to a must-pass defense authorization bill, Republican rebels dropped their opposition. This agreement was reached after a late-night meeting in the office of House Speaker Mike Johnson.

According to two anonymous attendees who disclosed to the outside world, Trump called in at the last moment and was briefly briefed on the contents of the agreement. "He is very pleased with it," said one of the individuals.

In the early hours of July 17, according to two informed sources, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee is delaying the release of a market structure discussion draft originally scheduled for the next day. Their idea is to wait and observe the actions of the House of Representatives, and then reconsider the introduction of the bill when the situation becomes more "clear."

According to Politico, the vote on the CLARITY Act may be delayed until next week.

It is expected that the "GENIUS Act" will be submitted to President Trump for signing this week and will become the first major encryption legislation passed by Congress, marking a significant lobbying victory for encryption companies.

Overall, the House of Representatives' "Crypto Week" has far-reaching implications for the digital asset space. These bills could not only reshape the landscape of the U.S. encryption industry but also set important foundational precedents for the regulation of future digital assets. With the advancement of the bills and the intervention of U.S. President Trump, will the regulatory framework continue to proceed smoothly? Can the U.S. government fulfill its "Crypto Capital" promise? PANews will closely monitor subsequent developments.