On the surface, Wednesday night was another big win for Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
After nine hours, the U.S. House of Representatives moved ahead with the Big Three bills: the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act.
All three pieces of legislation will now advance to the House floor for debate.
However, it wasn’t until House leaders promised to attach anti-CBDC measures to the National Defense Authorization Act that the last GOP holdouts relented. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was the only Republican to join Democrats on the “No” side.
For a change, this bit of crypto news hasn’t been met with rousing reviews in the marketplace. Investors were locking in profits earlier this week, knocking the price of Bitcoin (BTC) down from its record high of just under US$123,000. As we go to press, BTC is trading for $118,544.59, pretty much level since Wednesday’s marathon session in the House.
This is still a very important piece of business from a crypto betting and investing standpoint. But it also points to broader problems down the road for Trump and the Republican Party.
Let’s dig deep, peel back the layers, and see what’s causing this commotion.
Why Were Republicans Hesitant?
Taylor-Greene and her GOP colleagues expressed concern over the GENIUS Act as written. She says it “lays the groundwork for a layered” CBDC, or central bank digital currency.
President Trump said late Tuesday that he met with 11 of the dozen holdouts and made a deal to get their votes.
The terms of said deal weren’t included in Trump’s social media post. However, Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris claimed the agreement would add strong anti-CBDC provisions to the CLARITY Act.
Despite this, House Speaker Mike Johnson still found himself busy Wednesday trying to get those dozen Republicans on board. Having done so, Johnson and the GOP say the GENIUS Act could be passed as soon as Thursday. However, the CLARITY Act could drag on a while.
Why Did MTG Still Vote “No”?
That’s the question of the day. Ostensibly, Taylor-Greene wants an outright ban on CBDCs; on Wednesday, she posted the following Bible passage from Revelation 13:16-17:
“It also forced all people great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on the foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.”
Invoking the End Times is nothing new for Taylor-Greene. But if she’s still not pleased with the anti-CBDC measures contained in these three bills, perhaps these are indeed flawed pieces of legislation – and/or this could be part of a larger strategy for Taylor-Greene.
Where’s This MAGA Rift Coming From?
You’ve no doubt seen quite a bit of MTG lately. Since announcing in May that she wouldn’t seek a Senate bid in 2026, Taylor-Greene has broken with Trump on several high-profile issues, such as:
- The bombing of Iran
- The continued U.S. involvement with NATO in Ukraine
- The Department of Justice’s refusal to release files regarding the Jeffrey Epstein investigation
It’s that last item that has Taylor-Greene and the entire MAGA movement up in arms.
However, this is larger than Trump; during the Biden Administration, the far right accused Democrats of withholding these files in order to protect the rich. But now we have former Trump allies like Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones speaking out against him.
Will this “MAGA Civil War” cost the Republicans the 2026 midterms? GOP strategist Evan Siegfried says it could make all the difference in swing districts, and the only solution is to “put everything out in the sunlight.”
Maybe those Epstein files do indeed contain something problematic for Trump, maybe not. Still, this TRUMP meme coin is down 1.72% today to $9.93 as I write this.
Bet and invest accordingly.
