A long-awaited overhaul of U.S. digital asset rules is drifting past its hoped-for finish line, with Senator Mark Warner cautioning that Congress will almost certainly miss its Christmas target.
Addressing attendees at MoonPay’s New York office, Warner described a legislative process still stuck in drafting mode, missing crucial language the White House has not yet delivered.
Instead of debating the bill’s big philosophical ideas, Warner said negotiators are wrestling with very specific missing pieces — including ethics standards and quorum procedures — that must be written before anything advances.
More broadly, he suggested Washington still hasn’t resolved who is truly steering crypto policy: lawmakers or the administration. Republicans, he argued, will eventually need to decide whether they want a bill shaped by Congressional priorities or one driven by the executive branch.
Despite the delays, Warner pushed back against the idea that the effort is stalled. Staff on both sides, he said, are meeting constantly, revising wording and negotiating structure. He expressed confidence that the bill will pass at some point, but insisted that careful construction takes precedence over speed.
Another hurdle has emerged outside the drafting table: national security hawks want tougher guardrails. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jack Reed have urged the Treasury Department and Justice Department to examine how digital tokens may be sold to bad actors, pushing for safeguards to be embedded directly into the legislative framework.
Their intervention has widened the scope of the bill, slowing negotiations as lawmakers now weigh security provisions alongside market oversight mechanics.
That expanding agenda — half regulatory blueprint, half national security review — means the crypto legislation is unlikely to emerge before lawmakers leave town. Warner remains optimistic it will reach completion, but the path forward is now governed by competing centers of influence and a rapidly changing list of priorities.
