Today in crypto, US lawmakers have advanced three crypto bills after a nine-hour session, the longest vote in the US House’s history. Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald is said to be nearing a $3.5 billion Bitcoin purchase from Blockstream.
Crypto bills move forward after nine-hour stalemate on House floor
House Republican leaders have cut a deal to move forward with three crypto bills that were stuck in a record-long procedural vote after Republican hardliners refused to back down on central bank digital currencies.
A vote to set up floor debate on the bills was open for over nine hours — the longest in the House’s history. The measure eventually passed late on Wednesday with a vote of 217-212 in favor.
The crypto bill is hanging in limbo. pic.twitter.com/DW4HCrqVDm
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) July 16, 2025
A group of Republican holdouts initially refused to support the vote unless a ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) was guaranteed to pass, but House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters on Wednesday that Republicans will now instead add a CBDC ban to a must-pass defense spending bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Three US crypto bills revived after initial failure in House vote
The US House of Representatives has cleared the way for three Republican-led crypto bills to be considered in the chamber after a failed vote on Tuesday.
In a Wednesday floor vote in the House, lawmakers voted 215-211 in favor of a resolution to reconsider a package with bills to regulate payment stablecoins, establish crypto market structure and restrict the development of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The passage could lead to amendments to the bills and votes on the legislation itself soon as part of Republicans’ plans to pass them before Congress breaks for an August recess.
Though the motion to reconsider passed, the House had yet to agree to the resolution. Reports suggested lawmakers were debating how to move forward. At the time of publication, the vote remained open.
Despite political pressure from US President Donald Trump, five Republicans did not vote in favor of reconsidering the resolution. Thirteen House Republicans caused the vote to fail on Tuesday, several of whom expressed concerns about the lack of CBDC provisions in the stablecoin bill, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act.
Cantor plans $3.5B Bitcoin buy from Adam Back’s Blockstream: Reports
Financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald plans to acquire $3.5 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) from Adam Back’s Blockstream Capital to spin up a company to hold the cryptocurrency, the Financial Times and Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
The would see BlockStream contribute as much as 30,000 Bitcoin, currently worth $3.5 billion, in exchange for shares in Cantor Equity Partners 1, a blank-check special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which would be renamed BSTR Holdings.
The deal also includes plans to raise up to $800 million in additional outside capital for further Bitcoin purchases and follows a previous $3.6 billion crypto deal Cantor Fitzgerald made with SoftBank and Tether in April to create the Bitcoin acquisition company.
Cantor is run by Brandon Lutnick, the 27-year-old son of US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, while Back’s 1997 Hashcash cryptographic work was cited by Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, and became foundational to Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus.