US lawmakers are beginning a key markup session Thursday morning on a long-awaited crypto market structure bill, marking a pivotal 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 lawmakers to move beyond enforcement-led regulation. Today’s session may signal 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 markup unfolds.
Jan. 29 4:52 pm UTC
Market structure bill advances from agriculture committee
In just over an hour, with only votes on three amendments that failed along party lines, the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 12 to 11 to advance the digital asset market structure bill, setting it up for a floor vote in the full chamber sometime in the future. Lawmakers on both sides noted that the committee would need to combine its bill with the draft under consideration in the Senate Banking Committee before a vote.
“Merging this with the Banking Committee’s text—and doing so on a bipartisan basis—is the only way to get this over the finish line,” said Kevin Wysocki, head of policy at Anchorage Digital, in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.
Jan. 29 4:41 pm UTC
Durbin amendment on crypto bailouts fails
Lawmakers also voted along party lines against an amendment proposed by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who suggested that federal agencies “not provide financial assistance to a digital asset commodity intermediary to prevent the failure or bankruptcy of the digital asset commodity intermediary.” Durbin pointed to the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, leading to failures in Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank.
“Nothing in the bill would grant the CFTC authority to provide assistance to an intermediary in the event of bankruptcy,” said Boozman, adding that “a specific prohibition is unnecessary.”
Jan. 29 4:38 pm UTC
Committee votes along party lines against ethics amendment
In a 12 to 11 vote against adopting an amendment proposed by Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, the committee chose not to incorporate ethics provisions into the crypto market structure bill. According to Bennet, the amendment was intended to prevent elected officials from profiting off the crypto industry.
Jan. 29 4:20 pm UTC
Democrats focus on ethics provisions, bipartisan solutions
Senators Adam Schiff and Elissa Slotkin, both Democrats, emphasized the need for bipartisanship in their comments to the agriculture committee, but reiterated Booker’s remarks about the need for ethics provisions. Slotkin also expressed concerns about national security and the leadership of the CFTC, where only Chair Michael Selig sits in a panel meant for five people.
“Handing over responsibility for oversight of this bill to one guy, who in his own confirmation hearing in front of our committee was very open about being very pro-crypto industry, just doesn’t give confidence that, again, we’re gonna have appropriate balanced oversight on a very new issue,” said Slotkin.
Jan. 29 4:07 pm UTC
“We do not want to be criminalizing people who are writing code,” Sen. Booker says
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker laid out some of his and Democrats’ goals for the market structure bill, including having the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC “coordinate and collaborate” on crypto rulemaking and protections for self-custody and innovative technology.
“We do not want to be criminalizing people who are writing code,” said Booker.
The senator shared his frustration over 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 as recently as Wednesday evening to address provisions on decentralized finance, and took aim at US President Donald Trump’s involvement in the crypto legislation.
“The White House has made this infinitely harder […] the fact that Donald Trump is grifting on crypto himself,” said Booker, adding: “This is ridiculous that the President of the United States and his family have made billions of dollars off this industry and are still trying to make a framework here without the kind of ethics that would prevent this kind of gross corruption in our country.”
Jan. 29 3:46 pm UTC
Chair Boozman and ranking member Klobuchar give opening remarks
Committee Chair John Boozman and ranking member Amy Klobuchar addressed lawmakers before considering amendments on Thursday. According to Boozman, the committee had made “really significant progress” on the market structure bill, but noted that any efforts had to be combined with those in the Senate Banking Committee, which postponed its own markup 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 on provisions to prevent lawmakers from engaging with the crypto industry. Her remarks signaled that she would be pushing her amendment to have the CFTC have at least four Senate-confirmed commissioners before the market structure bill would be effective:
“We can’t give this CFTC this broad new authority when it only has one member, one Republican member.”
Jan. 29, 3:32 pm UTC
Lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee expected to vote on 11 amendments
The digital asset market structure bill, called the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act in the Senate Agriculture Committee, will be under consideration 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 swipe fees is still on the committee’s schedule, reports suggested that he would not push for such provisions in the bill.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.