French Hill on the Senate Crypto Stalemate

We have not done a major housing bill in 25 years. Housing is not a topic that gets the kind of detailed attention it should from the Congress.
Welcome to The Powers That Be Daily, Pucks podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood, and the players who run it all. I'm Peter Hamby. It's Saturday, June 6th. Today on the show, I'm turning the wheel over to Leigh Ann Caldwell, who sat down this week in Washington with Republican Congressman, French Hill, for our latest Puck Power Breakfast, presented by the Solana Policy Institute. The Arkansas Republican and Vanderbilt Commodore is Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. And given how slow things have been moving in Congress lately, French has had a relatively busy year, passing major crypto legislation and a housing bill. Leigh Ann talks to him about all of it, enjoy this episode.
The Clarity Act, under consideration in the Senate, is the product of years of serious bipartisan effort in both Houses of Congress. Industry participants have matched that commitment, offering technical input, advancing balanced compromises, and working constructively with policymakers throughout the process. Solana Policy Institute is grateful for the sustained work to bring this so close to the finish line. The House passed market structure legislation with bipartisan support in 2025 Solana Policy Institute is committed to supporting the work ahead, and we urge the Senate to see this through to a floor vote. The Senate has the opportunity to match that moment.
Chairman Hill, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. So your timing is impeccable. The fact that basically every single or most pieces of legislation that Congress is grappling with right now comes through your jurisdiction as chair of the Finance Committee. We have, of course, the crypto legislation, housing legislation that you just passed, and FISA as your committee. You serve on the Intelligence Committee, yes. So thank you so much for being here today. We will start with crypto, the Clarity Act. As we all just heard, that it is in the Senate, passed out a committee, but there's still some sticking points. Do you think the president wants this passed on his desk by July 4th? Do you think that that will happen?
Anything is possible. I mean, we've worked since 2018 in the House on thinking through a digital assets ecosystem, what the value of a dollar-back stable coin would be, how it would use, how it would extend the brand of the dollar around the world. And as Colin outlined in his opening comments, how do you craft a market structure that gives clarity with and to what is a commodity, what is a security, how does the ecosystem work to go to a decentralized blockchain-based set of services and financial services? So we've been working on this almost for a decade. So in the House, we came to that conclusion, and the Senate has been brought along this year since last July. And if we did pass it, my hope is that it would be, I don't know about July 4th, but I'd like to have a signing ceremony in July that was on exactly a year to the day that we signed the Genius Act. What would that date be? Do you remember? What was that? July 17th or something. Somewhere in, somewhere in... I didn't mean to put you on the spot with dates. That was rude. Yeah, you don't ever ask a politician to do public math or to ask them about a date. So one of the holdups is this issue of cryptocurrencies and illicit activity. Colin mentioned a letter that came out from intelligence officials and law enforcement supporting the Clarity Act. But there are current law enforcement, including, you know, the Sheriff's Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, who think this bill does not do enough and doesn't allow the prosecution of financial crimes. So what is your response to those concerns? Well, the Senate's been trying to fine tune the exact language as it relates to combating illicit finance. And again, Collin mentioned that, plus the Bitcoin ATM issue that's been a source of a lot of concerns for Senate members and that we've heard from our constituents where individuals are being scammed through frauds that are taking place in and around the Bitcoin, you know, ATM ecosystem. But what we've taken, you know, years of testimony from former FBI, former Treasury officials, current Treasury officials about using blockchain to track illicit finance. And of course, it is easier than in a cash based system. This is what I think a lot of people don't focus on.
Most crime takes place out there in the world using cash. It's still the preferred methodology of extending crime. If you are moving illicit funds through a blockchain network, your chance of identifying that, tracing it and recovering the money is a lot higher than it would be using cash. Just in this most instance of trying to block Iran's movement of money, to the extent it's on a blockchain, the Clarity Act gives the Treasury more tools to go after illicit finance. And I think that's a positive.