Trump’s ‘Crypto Week’ Set Back by House Vote

President Donald Trump declared it “crypto week.” Lawmakers failed to clear the way. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)

House members voted down a key procedural measure that would have cleared the way for votes on cryptocurrency-related bills, despite President Donald Trump having declared this “Crypto Week” on his social media account.

A dozen Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the measure, and the resulting 196-223 vote prevented the House from debating and moving forward to vote on legislation to fund the Defense Department for the 2026 fiscal year and three cryptocurrency bills.

The House was hoping to get to a vote on the Genius Act, which creates a regulatory framework for stablecoins. It was also looking to vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would regulate the larger cryptocurrency market, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which would prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R., La.) moved to reconsider the vote later. Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that hardline critics of the cryptocurrency legislation wanted to merge the three bills into one, The Hill reported.

Trump had tried to rally Republicans on Tuesday morning on his Truth Social account, teasing the House vote on legislation that he said would make American the undisputed leader in digital assets.

Trump added that the Genius Act would put the U.S. “lightyears ahead of China, Europe, and all others, who are trying endlessly to catch up, but they just can’t do it.”

He had urged the House to get the first vote passed Tuesday afternoon, with more legislation to come, saying in call caps that “All Republicans should vote yes!”

News of the vote sent Bitcoin prices down 3%, to $116,350, on Tuesday afternoon, according to Coindesk. Shares of crypto-related companies also reacted. MicroStrategy stock fell 1.4%, Robinhood fell 0.1%, Coinbase fell 1.5%, and Circle fell 4%.

Rep. French Hill, Republican chair of the Financial Services Committee, told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday that “I believe the bills we have on the House floor this week will protect investors, consumers, and make America, as President Trump wants, a leader in financial technology and crypto and digital assets innovation.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, has said that if the three Republican-led crypto bills become law, investors who believed that because the president was involved that they would make money on cryptocurrency “will lose their investments, they will lose their 401(k)s, they will lose their homes, they will lose everything messing around with this fraudulent, corrupt administration.”

Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com