The crypto market structure bill hasn’t made much public noise in a month. Even if it is difficult to make a prediction about the bill, it is not difficult to see that the time necessary for its adoption is running out.
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The story
We will not receive the Crypto Market Structure Bill this month. This isn’t the end of the process, but we’re approaching a timeline that will surely increase the amount of gray in people’s hair.
Why it matters
Much of what has happened around market structure issues — statements by Securities and Exchange Commission staff, for example — does not constitute permanent guidance. The SEC has time to develop rules subject to a notice and comment period, but it will take time. The market structure legislation sought to solidify the crypto industry’s goals and regulations into law, making it even more difficult for a future administration to overturn these rules. In other words, without the Clarity Act, it’s entirely possible that we’ll be having the same conversation a few years from now. To be clear, this is not about advocating for this bill, although I would like to write about something else. It is simply stating a likely future scenario.
Break it down
Memorial Day – May 25, just a month away – has been seen since at least last December as a deadline for legislation to move forward, if it is to have any chance of passing before the election. As summer approaches, lawmakers will be leaving town to run their campaigns and won’t have time to worry about a crypto bill (or many other laws).
Before Congress leaves, he will review a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security (House) and determine whether Kevin Warsh will become the next Fed chairman (Senate).
CoinDesk’s Jesse Hamilton last week laid out the other steps needed to get Clarity across the finish line — that is, President Donald Trump’s desk.
The crypto industry desperately wants this bill; More than 100 people signed an open letter last week requesting a markup hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, which would be the first step toward comprehensive adoption.
Still, at this point, it’s unclear how close the committee is to moving forward. Stablecoin performance continues to dominate the conversation, but other outstanding issues have also not been resolved, at least publicly.
Even when these issues are resolved, the House will have to vote on the bill again.
Congressman French Hill, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, told CoinDesk earlier this month that many outstanding questions regarding the sales practices of stablecoins and decentralized finance had already been resolved by the House in its version of the bill, meaning the Senate should be able to find common ground.
“I think the Senate has relayed a lot of the work of the House on FIT21 [the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act] from the previous Congress and CLARITY in this Congress,” he said. “I think you see it pretty clearly in the Senate agricultural markup, I think you see it in the basic draft of many elements of the Senate bill.”
Well, I don’t want to rehash Consensus Miami, but we’re going to talk about it next month. It’ll be a party, you should stop by.
This week
If you have any ideas or questions about what I should discuss next week or any other comments you’d like to share, feel free to email me at nik@PK Press Club.com or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.
You can also join the group chat on Telegram.
See you next week!
