Congress is back to pushing a market structure bill that could finally decide how crypto will work in the U.S. After stalling last year, the legislation is alive again.
Hearings are set for Thursday, and the Senate Agriculture and Banking Committees will review and possibly revise their own sections. If they pull this off, it could set the first real legal rules for crypto in the country.
This Clarity Act is supposed to make it easier for digital asset firms to stay in the U.S. without getting buried in legal mess. The bill could change how the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission divide up the job of regulating crypto. It also lays out rules for who needs to register, what kind of tokens exist, and what exchanges and brokerages have to do to stay compliant.
Lawmakers will fight over stablecoins, DeFi, and Trump-linked profits
Three issues are guaranteed to cause problems this week. First, stablecoin rewards. Second, the treatment of DeFi platforms and their developers. Third, whether elected officials like President Donald Trump should be banned from making money off crypto while in office. Trump-linked groups have already launched both a memecoin and NFTs.
Cody Carbone, head of the Digital Chamber, said the stablecoin reward issue is the “biggest outstanding issue” on Capitol Hill. He said, “Stablecoin rewards, interest, yields, whatever you want to call it, will be addressed in the bill. Both Republicans and Democrats have come to that conclusion.”
Earlier this year, the Community Bankers Council from the American Bankers Association told senators that stablecoin firms are offering rewards in a way that dodges rules from the GENIUS Act, which passed last year.
That law bans dollar-linked tokens from offering yields, but these new schemes are slipping through the cracks and competing with traditional savings accounts.
On the DeFi side, people are worried that coders and developers will get punished when others use their tools for crimes like money laundering. Amanda Tuminelli, the top lawyer at the DeFi Education Fund, said they are “very conscious of how illicit finance is treated in the bill,” but want to make sure that obligations “aren’t put on codes instead of person.”
She said the goal is to protect developers from being blamed when their tools are misused.DeFi supporters also want the bill to give people the right to hold their own crypto, without needing a third party.
They’re pushing for language from the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act that would let software developers and service providers off the hook if they don’t control or hold customer funds.
Senate expected to merge committee drafts and push to vote before midterms
The Senate Agriculture and Banking Committees are supposed to finish their parts and release updated drafts this Thursday. After that, the two sections will be merged into one full version of the market structure bill. That combined bill will head to the Senate floor.
Lawmakers expect this process to drag out for several weeks before it even has a shot at becoming law.
Senator Elizabeth Warren and some of her colleagues want the final draft to include strict rules banning public officials from profiting off crypto while they’re in office. Summer Mersinger from the Blockchain Association said this was dropped in the House, but the Senate is “not going to punt on this issue.”
She also warned that time is running out. With the 2026 midterm elections coming fast, lawmakers might lose key allies. “There’s a lot of other priorities Congress has on the books for this year,” Mersinger said. “This is kind of the key window that they see to get something to move out of committee onto the floor and have the time that’s needed to get it done.”
Supporters of the bill know they’re in a race. If this doesn’t pass before November, everything could fall apart. With so much riding on it, and both parties still clashing over key parts, the future of crypto in America is hanging by a thread.
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