Ex-Congressman Patrick McHenry Admits He ‘Made A Mistake’ By Splitting Stablecoin Bill From CLARITY Act

Former Republican congressman Patrick McHenry, who chaired the House Financial Services Committee, said on Friday that he "made a mistake" by splitting stablecoin rules from the broader crypto market-structure bill.

Speaking with journalist Eleanor Terrett, McHenry admitted that decision helped derail the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act), and traced the trouble back to his own time as chair.

"I do have ownership in that too, and I made a mistake, and that mistake did impair us getting a market structure bill done, and that was when I separated stablecoins, and a market structure bill, and I made that decision that we're going to have two pieces of legislation," he said.

He added that the split looked like the smarter path at the time. "It didn't have to be that way. It neatly divided that way, and I thought it was the right thing to do at the time because I thought we had a better shot of bipartisan legislation on stablecoins. I was wrong," he said.

McHenry said the stablecoin bill, the GENIUS Act, moved quickly once it stood alone, and that took pressure off market structure. The Clarity Act then hit a wall in the Senate in September, when a procedural vote to take it up fell short of the 60 votes needed.