U.S. lawmakers begin a key markup session on Thursday morning on the long-awaited Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act, a key step in Congress’ efforts to establish clearer rules for digital asset markets.
The bill has been in the works for months and follows sustained pressure from the cryptocurrency industry and some lawmakers to move beyond enforcement-based regulation. Today’s session could signal how much bipartisan support remains and which provisions may face resistance as lawmakers debate the future framework for U.S. digital asset markets.
This live blog will track key moments and reactions as the tags develop.
January 29, 16:52 UTC
Advance payments for the bill on market structure from the Agriculture Committee
In just over an hour, with just three votes on three amendments that failed along party lines, the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 12 to 11 to advance the Digital Asset Market Structure Act, setting it up for a vote in the full chamber sometime in the future. Lawmakers from both parties noted that the committee would have to combine its bill with one pending in the Senate Banking Committee before voting.
“Combining this with the Banking Committee text – and doing it on a bipartisan basis – is the only way to get this done,” Kevin Wysocki, head of policy at Anchorage Digital, said in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.
January 29, 16:41 UTC
The Durbin Amendment to bail out cryptocurrencies failed
Lawmakers also voted along party lines against an amendment proposed by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who suggested that federal agencies “shall not provide financial assistance to a digital asset trader to prevent the failure or bankruptcy of the digital asset trader.” Durbin pointed to the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, which led to the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank.
“Nothing in the bill would provide the CFTC with the authority to provide bankruptcy relief to an intermediary,” Boozman said, adding that “a specific prohibition is not necessary.”
January 29, 16:38 UTC
Committee votes party line against ethics amendment
In a 12-11 vote against adopting an amendment proposed by Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, the committee decided not to include ethics provisions in the cryptocurrency market structure bill. According to Bennet, the amendment read intended to prevent elected officials from profiting from the cryptocurrency industry.
January 29, 16:20 UTC
Democrats focus on ethics regulations, bipartisan solutions
Senators Adam Schiff and Elissa Slotkin, both Democrats, emphasized the need for bipartisanship in their remarks to the Agriculture Committee, but echoed Booker’s comments on the need for ethics legislation. Slotkin also raised concerns about national security and the leadership of the CFTC, whose five-member panel includes only Chairman Michael Selig.
“Handing over responsibility for oversight of this bill to one guy who was very open in his own confirmation hearing before our committee about being very pro-crypto industry simply does not provide assurance that we will again have adequately balanced oversight of a very new issue,” Slotkin said.
January 29, 16:07 UTC
“We don’t want to criminalize people who write code,” says Senator Booker
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker outlined some of his and Democrats’ goals for the Market Structure Act, including ensuring that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC “coordinate and cooperate” in regulating cryptocurrencies and protecting self-policing and novel technologies.
“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 latest version of the bill compared to the bill he and Boozman released in November. Booker said he was working with stakeholders as recently as Wednesday evening to address decentralized finance legislation, and took aim at US President Donald Trump’s involvement in cryptocurrency legislation.
“The White House has made it infinitely more difficult […] the fact that Donald Trump himself is raving about cryptocurrencies,” Booker said, adding: “It’s ridiculous that the president of the United States and his family have made billions of dollars in this industry and are still trying to create a framework here without ethics that would prevent this type of blatant corruption in our country.”
January 29, 15:46 UTC
Chairman Boozman and Ranking Member Klobuchar deliver opening remarks
Committee Chairman John Boozman and ranking member Amy Klobuchar addressed lawmakers Thursday before considering the amendments. According to Boozman, the committee has made “really significant progress” on the market structure bill, but noted that any efforts must be combined with those made by the Senate Banking Committee, which postponed the introduction of its own markup after Coinbase said it could not support its version of the bill as written.
Klobuchar added that there has been “good” progress on the bill but not enough to gain bipartisan support, including on provisions that prevent lawmakers from working with the cryptocurrency industry. Her comments signaled she would push her amendment to have the CFTC have at least four Senate-confirmed commissioners before the Market Structure Act takes effect:
“We cannot give this CFTC such sweeping new powers when it only has one member, one Republican member.”
January 29, 15:32 UTC
Lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee expected to vote on 11 amendments
The Digital Asset Market Structure Act, called the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act, will be considered in the Senate Agriculture Committee as lawmakers vote on amendments related to leadership at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), ethics and foreign interference in U.S. markets. While Sen. Roger Marshall’s proposed credit card swipe fee amendment is still on the committee’s agenda, reports suggest he won’t push for such provisions to be included in the bill.
This is a developing story and more information will be added as it becomes available.