Due to ongoing negotiations between Senate Republicans and Democrats, voting on the cryptocurrency bill has been moved to 2026.
For weeks, the Senate Republicans and Democrats have been debating on what rules to implement in the incoming crypto legislation. The negotiations are being held up due to certain ethics provisions that the democrats are pushing for.
Senate Banking Committee postpones voting on crypto bill to 2026
After weeks of intense negotiations between Senate Republicans and Democrats over important details in the bill, Chairman Tim Scott confirmed on Monday that his committee will not hold a markup hearing this week as previously hoped.
Senator Mark Warner noted that there are still wide areas of disagreement between both sides, saying lawmakers don’t even have agreed-upon language for some sections.
Jeff Naft, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Republican, said in a statement that the panel is continuing to negotiate and looks forward to a markup in early 2026.
Scott emphasized that the overall priority is creating bipartisan legislation and making America the Crypto capital of the world. The legislation would also provide clarity for the digital asset industry.
The market structure bill aims to define how the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission can oversee crypto markets. It would appoint the CFTC as a primary spot market regulator for cryptocurrency and more clearly define how securities laws apply to the sector.
The House of Representatives passed its version of crypto market structure legislation in July called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. It received strong bipartisan support with a 294-134 vote, including 216 Republicans and 78 Democrats.
What is holding up the crypto bill negotiations?
Democrats have been pushing for rules that would prevent public officials from profiting from cryptocurrency ventures while in office. This issue largely targets President Donald Trump and his family’s various crypto-related businesses, including World Liberty Financial.
Senator Cynthia Lummis revealed that the White House has already rejected these ethics provisions.
Democrats sent a counteroffer to Republicans earlier this month, expressing concerns about interest or yield payments on stablecoin balances. The Democratic Working Group warned that such yields could trigger bank runs if customers withdraw a lot at once and also threaten financial stability if stablecoins lose their value.
Democrats want the SEC to conduct initial reviews to quickly classify new digital assets. They also want crypto projects to keep providing regular updates and disclosures when founders or managers are still actively running the project. They have also pushed for stronger anti-money laundering measures and tools to combat illicit finance, particularly to isolate digital asset services used by North Korean bad actors from the U.S. financial system.
Additionally, Democrats are calling for bipartisan representation on both the SEC and CFTC to ensure fair and effective regulation.
Both the SEC and CFTC have begun taking steps to become friendlier regulators, regardless of legislation. The SEC has published staff statements and held multiple roundtables discussing how securities laws could apply to crypto. The CFTC has started allowing institutions it licenses to engage in spot crypto trading and recently granted no-action relief to prediction market operators.
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