US lawmakers will begin a key session Thursday morning on a long-awaited crypto market structure bill, marking a critical step in Congress’ effort to establish clearer rules for digital asset markets.
The bill has been months in the making and follows sustained pressure from the crypto industry and some politicians to go beyond enforcement-based regulation. Today’s session may indicate how much bipartisan support remains and which provisions may face resistance as lawmakers debate the future framework for US digital asset markets.
This live blog will track key moments and reactions as the marking unfolds.
January 29 4:07 pm UTC
“We don’t want to criminalize people who write code,” says Senator Booker.
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker laid out some of his and Democrats’ goals for the market structure bill, including getting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC to “coordinate and collaborate” on crypto regulation and protections for self-custody and innovative technology.
“We don’t want to criminalize people who write code,” Booker said.
The senator shared his frustration with the lack of bipartisan participation in the most recent version of the bill, compared to the draft he and Boozman released in November. Booker said he had been engaging with stakeholders on Wednesday evening to address the decentralized finance provisions, and pointed to US President Donald Trump’s involvement in cryptocurrency legislation.
“The White House has made this infinitely more difficult.” […] “It’s ridiculous that the president of the United States and his family have made billions of dollars from this industry and are still trying to create a framework here without the type of ethics that would prevent this type of serious corruption in our country.”
January 29 at 3:46 pm UTC
Chairman Boozman and Ranking Member Klobuchar Deliver Keynote Address
Committee Chairman John Boozman and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar addressed MPs before considering the amendments on Thursday. According to Boozman, the committee had made “really significant progress” on the market structure bill, but noted that any efforts needed to be combined with that of the Senate Banking Committee, which postponed its own margin after Coinbase said it could not support its version of the bill as written.
Klobuchar added that there had been “good” progress on the bill, but not enough to gain bipartisan support, including provisions to prevent parliamentarians from interacting with the crypto industry. His comments indicated that he would push his amendment to have the CFTC have at least four Senate-confirmed commissioners before the market structure bill takes effect:
“We can’t give the CFTC this broad new authority when it only has one member, a Republican member.”
January 29 at 3:32 pm UTC
Lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee are expected to vote on 11 amendments
The digital asset market structure bill, called the Digital Commodity Brokers Act in the Senate Agriculture Committee, will be considered as lawmakers vote on amendments related to leadership at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), ethics and foreign interference in US markets. Although an amendment proposed by Senator Roger Marshall related to credit card fees is still on the committee’s agenda, reports suggested he would not push such provisions into the bill.
This is a developing story and more information will be added as it becomes available.
