US Senate schedules vote on sweeping cryptocurrency bill.

• Senate to set vote on federal cryptocurrency regulation.
• Draft bill on stablecoins faces pressure over ethical clause.
• Cryptocurrency legislation advances ahead of US elections.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has scheduled a new session for May 14 to discuss and vote on a bill aimed at federally regulating the cryptocurrency market. This measure represents another attempt to establish broad rules for the sector in the U.S., following months of negotiations between lawmakers and industry representatives.

The move comes after the cancellation of the first attempt in January, when Coinbase withdrew its support for the bill. At the time, the exchange expressed concern about aspects related to rewards offered by stablecoins, a topic that generated strong debate among legislators and companies in the sector.

Last week, two senators involved in the negotiations presented a new proposal to resolve some of these disagreements. Despite this, entities linked to the banking sector stated that the updated text still "leaves something to be desired" in some regulatory aspects.

Before reaching the Senate floor, the bill still needs to be approved by the Banking Committee and reconciled with another version already approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee. Only after this step can the proposal proceed to a general vote.

The process gained an additional political component due to the involvement of the current US president, Donald Trump, with cryptocurrency-related initiatives. The president and first lady Melania Trump launched memecoins before the presidential inauguration, while members of the Trump family participated in the World Liberty Financial project, focused on DeFi and stablecoins.

During previous discussions, Democratic lawmakers attempted to include amendments prohibiting the president, vice president, and other federal officials from conducting certain cryptocurrency transactions. However, those proposals were ultimately left out of the main text.

Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand stated this week that the agreement is unlikely to move forward without a stricter ethics clause. She also reinforced the pressure to include consumer protection mechanisms and measures related to combating illicit financing and the financing of terrorism.

If the Senate manages to gather the necessary 60 votes, the bill will proceed to the House of Representatives. The representatives have previously approved a similar version with support from both Republicans and Democrats. If approved by both houses, the text will be sent to the president for signing.

Lawmakers in Washington are still facing a tight schedule. With the midterm elections approaching, the window for new votes in the U.S. Congress is starting to shrink in the coming weeks.