French Hill Pushes for Tweaks to GENIUS Act as Senate Advances Crypto Market Structure Bill

Key Points

• U.S. Representative French Hill and Senator Cynthia Lummis agree the upcoming market structure bill should revise the recently enacted GENIUS Act on stablecoins.

• House lawmakers had already tied amendments to GENIUS into their Clarity Act, including stricter disclosures and limits on non-financial firms entering the stablecoin sector.

• Senate negotiators aim to finalize their version of the market structure bill by year-end, though questions remain about timing and scope.

Market Structure Debate Reopens Stablecoin Law

The U.S. crypto industry is watching closely as lawmakers revisit the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, barely months after it became law. Representative French Hill (R-AR), a lead architect of House crypto legislation, said this week that the pending Senate market structure bill should take the opportunity to strengthen GENIUS, echoing comments from Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), who leads the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee.

The GENIUS Act, hailed as Congress’s first comprehensive stablecoin framework, set federal oversight for issuers and defined clear compliance standards. Yet lawmakers now suggest refinements are necessary to address disclosure practices, corporate eligibility, and investor protections.

House Clarity Act Proposed Amendments

When the House passed its Digital Asset Market Clarity Act earlier this year with strong bipartisan support (308–122), it included a section revising GENIUS. Those tweaks, laid out in Section 512, proposed:

• Holding stablecoin issuers’ CEOs and CFOs legally liable for accurate financial disclosures, with annual audits as a safeguard.

• Prohibiting non-financial companies from launching stablecoin products, reinforcing a divide between tech firms and financial institutions.

• Guaranteeing U.S. investors the right to self-custody digital assets through hardware or software wallets, and to transact peer-to-peer.

“We just thought these were ways to make GENIUS stronger and better, based on work we’ve done in the House,” Hill told attendees at CoinDesk’s Policy and Regulation event in Washington.

Senate’s Turn to Refine Framework

Senator Lummis has signaled openness to incorporating the House’s revisions, stressing the importance of respecting its groundwork. “So I do think that there will be some language that changes GENIUS,” she said.

The Senate Banking Committee’s Republicans recently unveiled a draft version of their market structure bill, and bipartisan teams are working to reconcile differences before year-end. While some lawmakers, including Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), have expressed skepticism about the timeline, Lummis has said she remains optimistic the Senate can deliver by December.

Hill acknowledged the Senate is newer to this space than the House but argued momentum is building: “I think they can get this done,” he said, pointing to active collaboration across party lines.

Investor Sentiment and Industry Impact

For market participants, any revisions to GENIUS carry significant implications. Stronger disclosure requirements could boost investor confidence in stablecoins by ensuring transparency, while restrictions on non-financial issuers may limit innovation from technology companies. Meanwhile, the explicit enshrinement of self-custody rights is seen as a win for crypto advocates concerned about overreach.

Industry lobbyists say clarity on these points is essential for market stability. “The GENIUS Act was a milestone, but it left gray areas that could create uncertainty for both issuers and investors,” one policy analyst noted. “The Senate’s revisions will determine whether the framework becomes more resilient or more restrictive.”

Looking Ahead

With regulators already moving to implement GENIUS, lawmakers now face the challenge of adjusting a fresh law without creating confusion. Treasury Department advisers, including Tyler Williams, have signaled support for completing the market structure effort by year-end. If that timeline holds, the U.S. crypto market could enter 2026 with a fully integrated framework governing both stablecoins and broader digital assets.

Whether those changes ultimately strengthen innovation or stifle it will depend on how carefully Congress balances investor protections, financial privacy, and market flexibility in the final draft.