Some agencies, such as the SEC, are expected to reopen the day after a funding bill becomes law, more than 40 days after reducing their operations and staff. The US government is moving closer to reopening after more than 40 days of being shut down, following several Democratic lawmakers in the Senate siding with Republicans to pass a funding bill. On Monday, the US Senate held a late-night vote for a bill “continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026,” which passed 60 to 40 in the chamber. The bill is expected to fund the government through Jan. 31, 2026, provided it passes in the House of Representatives and is signed into law by President Donald Trump. As Tuesday is a US federal holiday, the House is not expected to reconvene to vote on the bill until Wednesday at the earliest. Prediction platform Polymarket has already adjusted its expectation that the US government will return to normal operations on Friday, likely following the passage of the House bill. Read more
The House Rules Committee could add the CBDC bill to the final version of the market structure bill, but may not impact the Senate's own version of the legislation. The US House of Representatives may have a shorter legislative path to bar the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by using a market structure bill it passed in July. In a Monday hearing of the House Rules Committee, a draft agenda showed a proposal to add the text of the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act — also passed by the chamber in July, albeit by a narrow margin — to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The engrossment method would add the CBDC bill to the final version of the existing market structure bill sent to the Senate for consideration. Read more
The three bills on Republicans’ crypto agenda passed with bipartisan support despite continued pushback from Democrats over claims of corruption and conflicts of interest. After delays in Congress over Republican concerns with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the US House of Representatives has passed three pieces of crypto legislation. In a Thursday House session, lawmakers voted 294-134 to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, a bill aimed at establishing a market structure for cryptocurrencies, 308-122 in favor of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, and 219-210 for the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. Almost 80 Democrats voted yes for the CLARITY Act and more than 100 for the GENIUS Act, with the bills having been expected to move through the chamber before Congress breaks for its August recess. Read more
Though the House of Representatives may soon be able to consider the three bills, President Donald Trump didn’t get all Republicans to fall in line to support the legislation. The US House of Representatives has cleared the way for three Republican-led crypto bills to be considered in the chamber after a failed vote on Tuesday. In a Wednesday floor vote in the House, lawmakers voted 215-211 in favor of a resolution to reconsider a package with bills to regulate payment stablecoins, establish crypto market structure and restrict the development of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC). The passage could lead to amendments to the bills and votes on the legislation itself soon as part of Republicans’ plans to pass them before Congress breaks for an August recess. Read more
Protect Progress, an affiliate of the cryptocurrency-backed Fairshake PAC, spent more than $1 million on media buys to support Democratic candidate James Walkinshaw. James Walkinshaw, a Democratic candidate seeking to replace the late Representative Gerry Connolly for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, won a party primary after a cryptocurrency-backed political action committee (PAC) spent more than $1 million to support his race. On Saturday, Democrats in Virginia’s 11th district held a firehouse primary to decide on a possible replacement for Connolly after his death while in office. A special election to determine who will represent the district will be held on Sept. 9. Walkinshaw beat out other candidates to become the Democratic nominee for the House seat, and the cryptocurrency industry may have played a role in his success, given reports of media buys by the Protect Progress PAC. According to Federal Election Commission filings, the committee spent more than $1 million to support Walkinshaw in Jun...
More than 30 members of the US Congress signed onto a letter alleging that Donald Trump could have violated the Constitution by inviting his memecoin investors to a private dinner. Members of the US House of Representatives called for the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump’s May 22 dinner for his top memecoin investors, citing concerns about “foreign influence over US policy decisions” and “potential corruption and emoluments clause violations.” In a May 22 letter to the Justice Department, 35 House members asked the public integrity section acting chief, Edward Sullivan, to launch an inquiry over the memecoin dinner to determine whether it violated the federal bribery statute or the foreign emoluments clause of the US Constitution. Under the emoluments clause, a US president is barred from accepting any gift from a foreign state without the approval of Congress. Bloomberg reported that a majority of the attendees at the memecoin dinner were likely foreign nationals based on their connections to ...