Negotiations to move a crypto market structure bill through its next steps in the Senate have hovered at near status for weeks, and Republican lawmakers met Thursday to determine how to close the remaining gaps.
The White House was expected to obtain updated legislation on Thursday, reflecting ongoing work on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, according to people familiar with the matter. But discussions continue, and even if previously uncertain senators (such as Republican Thom Tillis) are satisfied with the bill’s stable yield treatment, other distinct compromises (such as the decentralized finance approach) must also be achieved before the Senate can send the crypto industry’s top policy priority to President Donald Trump for signature.
The long-running debate focused on stablecoin yield — over which bankers and crypto firms have been divided over the structure of stablecoin rewards programs — is about to end, the people said, although lawmakers have discussed what could be offered to community bankers to gain their support while resolving some of their other priorities. This could include provisions unrelated to recent housing legislation from Congress, according to a Politico report.
Trump administration officials were reportedly involved in the meeting of Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee, which is the second panel that must advance the bill before it is repackaged into a final version that can get a vote from the full Senate. Even if the committee’s efforts move forward by the end of April, as Sen. Cynthia Lummis predicted this week, a few more hurdles could slip past lawmakers.
Democrats involved in the talks said they still want top officials and lawmakers to benefit from crypto vested interests — most clearly aimed at Trump. And they want Democrats appointed to the party’s vacant seats on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission before the agency adopts new crypto rules. These are two points that could require concessions from the White House, and crypto insiders expect these controversial points to be the last issues ironed out once lawmakers work on a final bill.
On the question of yield, Lummis said stable rewards programs that avoid bank language about savings and interest could survive the tradeoff, insisting they are more akin to credit card rewards than bank deposit interest.
Lummis said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, whose opposition to a previous bill helped derail an earlier effort to reach a Senate hearing, had been more flexible in recent discussions. The company did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment on its position.
While Congress works, the Securities and Exchange Commission spent much of the week releasing and discussing new crypto policy points, including a first-ever taxonomy that sets out regulatory definitions for U.S. crypto assets. In an opinion piece published Thursday on CoinDesk, Chairman Paul Atkins and the two Republican commissioners suggested they were eager to see new law supporting the policy they are working on.
“Only Congress can rewrite the law, and we are ready to work with [Commodity Futures Trading Commission] Chairman Michael Selig must implement the CLARITY Act,” they wrote. “In the meantime, we are providing the responsible regulatory approach that markets demand.”
