What To Know:
- The US Senate bill faces fresh delays, with bipartisan drafts from the Banking and Agriculture Committees still incomplete and no release expected before December.
- The Agriculture Committee’s version, focusing on CFTC oversight of digital commodities, is reportedly closer to completion.
- Lawmakers and industry leaders, including Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, say both parties are now nearly aligned on core principles, but the legislative calendar remains tight before year-end.
The US Senate’s long-awaited crypto market structure bill has been once again slowed,and might even be delayed till December. This slow down is due to bipartisan drafts from both the Banking and Agriculture Committees still waiting for completion. Lawmakers had hoped to release the bill before Thanksgiving. But with the Senate busy in government funding negotiations, attention to the digital asset legislation has been pushed further down the calendar.
Senate Bill: Crypto Legislation Progress Still Slow
Insiders now expect December to be the earliest possible window for a markup session. According to several congressional aides, both committees have been working “around the clock” to close remaining gaps between Democratic and Republican negotiators. Despite optimism that progress is being made, neither committee has produced a final draft.
The Agriculture Committee’s version, which will cover commodities and the role of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), seems to be closest to completion. Sources familiar with the discussions said the text will likely include bracketed sections, marking areas where the two parties still disagree. Those unresolved sections could determine how the final bill divides oversight between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A report from journalist Eleanor Terrett indicated that the Agriculture Committee had been preparing to publish the draft this week, though she added that internal adjustments may delay the release into next week. The Banking Committee’s draft, which focuses more heavily on consumer protections and securities-related definitions, also remains under review.
White House Crypto and AI Czar David Sacks held a call on Wednesday with Senators John Boozman of Arkansas and Cory Booker of New Jersey, who are leading the Agriculture Committee’s bipartisan push. Sacks described the conversation as “encouraging” and said he expects to see a version of the bill “in the near future.”
The proposed legislation aims to establish a formal framework for digital assets within the United States, giving clearer lines of authority to federal agencies. The CFTC would manage digital commodities and related spot markets, while the SEC would retain jurisdiction over assets categorized as securities. The structure also introduces distinct definitions for digital commodities, investment contract assets, and permitted payment stablecoins. Each classification is designed to decide which agency holds enforcement power and to establish compliance rules for companies operating in the sector.
An earlier draft of the bill, released in September, featured changes that were well received by industry participants. That revision explained that activities such as staking, decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) issuance and airdrops would not inherently be subject to securities law. Those changes were the product of months’ worth of feedback from blockchain developers, compliance experts and exchange operators.
Discussions on broader market structure framework were re-ignited last month after a bitter partisan dispute. Negotiations had stalled after Senate Democrats announced they would attach the CLARITY Act,its own legislation that proposed extending anti-money-laundering rules to decentralized finance protocols. The proposal categorized DeFi developers as intermediaries. The initiative classified DeFi developers as intermediaries. That prompted Republican lawmakers and many in industry to argue that the act would obstruct open-source innovation.
Here at a few recent roundtable sessions with major-industry voices — including the execs of Coinbase and Ripple — seem to be easing up on those divisions. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have also made statements this month that indicate them to be more open than ever to striking a deal for comprehensive market structure reform by year’s end. Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of Coinbase, who visited Capitol Hill last week to meet with several senators, said there is a growing alignment between both camps. “Lawmakers are roughly 90% aligned on the core principles of the bill,” he told reporters, adding that finalizing the text before 2026 remains a realistic goal.
Still, the legislative timetable is tight. Once the government funding impasse is resolved, the Senate will have just one week of session time before Thanksgiving recess. That leaves limited opportunity for formal markups or committee votes. If lawmakers can’t finalize the text before the break, December will likely be the next viable window.
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