The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday failed to override President Joe Biden’s veto of a bipartisan effort to allow U.S. banks to hold cryptocurrencies.
The bill required a two-thirds supermajority to pass the House, then another two-thirds majority in the Senate. The bill passed today with a comfortable majority, but nowhere near the level of Democratic support needed to censure Biden.
In fact, the number of House members voting today is the exact same as when this bill to repeal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Regulation SAB 121 was first put to the vote in May. Exactly 207 Republicans and 21 Democrats voted in favor of the bill then and today.
Ultimately, 182 Democrats voted against repeal in May, and 183 voted against it this morning.
Crypto policy experts I’m not holding my breath. He is hopeful the bill will garner enough bipartisan support to override President Biden’s veto.
But they’ve been surprised before. In late May, the cryptocurrency regulatory framework Fit 21It passed the House with the support of 71 Democrats, a number of votes that could constitute a majority in the House on the appropriate day.
Before SAB 121 was put to a second vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday, it briefly appeared as if private negotiations between the banking industry and the SEC were poised to deliver some sort of preemptive win for the cryptocurrency industry, but details were unclear.
“My understanding is that the SEC is close to reaching an agreement on these amendments, which would allow highly regulated entities, like custodian banks, to offer cryptocurrency custody services that comply with SAB 121,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said on Wednesday.
But crypto advocates like Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, denounced any attempt to block Congress from making a final decision on what the SEC’s crypto policy should be.
“The idea that Congress should wait because banks are trying to get special treatment from Gary Gensler and the Securities and Exchange Commission is not sound public policy,” McHenry said on the House floor Wednesday. “And the idea that Congress should wait and pause to override the president’s veto of very bad policies that harm consumers is just a rumor … that’s not how great statesmen operate.” [nation] The state should be doing business.”
In the end, despite the voting results, McHenry stuck to his guns.
It is unclear whether the SEC has reached an agreement to change its policies regarding cryptocurrency holdings by U.S. banks. Decryption Authorities were contacted but did not immediately receive a response.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional details after publication.
Editor: Andrew Hayward
