The Senate passed a first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency bill on Tuesday as a bloc of industry-friendly Democrats bucked their party to overcome weeks of legislative gridlock.

The GENIUS Act, which creates a regulatory framework for stablecoins, a digital asset pegged to the dollar, earned the support of more than a dozen Democrats and nearly all Republicans in a vote that brings cryptocurrency one step closer to the financial system’s mainstream.

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For weeks, the legislation seemed to be on a glide path to passage after advancing out of the Senate Banking Committee in March, but a delicate bipartisan coalition nearly fell apart as Democrats made a series of surprise demands at the beginning of May.

What followed was weeks of negotiations, but also political gamesmanship, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) dared Democrats to oppose a test vote on the legislation. That vote failed, and the lead sponsors – Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) – went back to the drawing board to make further changes.

Lummis said the Banking Committee will attempt to avoid the same messy, public bartering as lawmakers turn their attention to the CLARITY Act, an even broader bill to set rules of the road for digital assets.

“We want to try and get as much done in the committee as possible,” Lummis said, predicting that the larger bill could be marked up before the August recess.

Another challenge will be reaching a compromise with the House, where Republican leaders are considering whether to delay sending the GENIUS Act to President Donald Trump’s desk and instead package it with the larger crypto bill.

For now, Senate leaders are hailing the stablecoin bill as a landmark piece of legislation that overcame the partisan divisions of Trump’s second term. 

His family’s investments in cryptocurrency, including allegations of corrupt self-dealing, galvanized most Democrats to oppose the bill. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking member of the Banking Committee, also argued the bill had “weak safeguards” for consumers and financial stability.

The GENIUS Act survived a separate effort to attach so-called “poison pill” amendments on the Senate floor, delaying a final vote for days.

Thune ultimately abandoned plans to have an open amendment process in order to block the most controversial amendments, chief among them a credit card swipe fees bill sponsored by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS).

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The legislation’s passage represents a major victory for the cryptocurrency industry, which lobbied the Senate heavily in the lead-up to the vote. In last year’s congressional races, it poured tens of millions into electing pro-crypto lawmakers.

On Tuesday, Republicans touted the GENIUS Act as the first Banking Committee bill to make it to the Senate floor in eight years and the first major piece of legislation to pass the Senate this Congress.