Some key Democratic holdouts on landmark Senate cryptocurrency legislation are pushing to delay a procedural floor vote that is currently slated for Thursday to buy more time to finalize an agreement and get other members on board, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive, closed-door talks.
Key Democrats believe they have made progress toward a deal but need more time to complete it and win over other members ahead of a floor vote, the people said.
The legislation in question would create the first-ever U.S. regulatory framework for stablecoins, which are digital tokens pegged to the dollar. Previous versions of the bill have drawn bipartisan support, but the effort hit a roadblock over the weekend when nine likely Democratic supporters said they would not support the most recent version of the bill introduced by GOP leaders ahead of a floor vote.
Holdouts met with GOP negotiators to hash out changes for over three hours Wednesday morning. The group included Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who have played leading roles in negotiations.
Gillibrand said following the meeting that she was “very hopeful” following the talks.
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