Update: The story has been updated to reflect that only the agriculture version of the bill was pushed to the end of January.
Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) said Monday that the committee decided to delay markup of the agricultural version of the cryptocurrency market structure bill until the last week of January.
Need more time for bipartisan consensus?
Boozman said the delay allows more time to continue discussions and refine the bill.
He revealed the committee had made “significant progress” and had “constructive” bipartisan discussions over the weekend. Boozman reiterated his commitment to advancing bipartisan crypto market structure legislation.
“To finalize the remaining details and ensure the broad support this legislation requires, additional time is necessary before moving to markup. The committee will mark up this legislation during the last week of January,” a statement from Boozman released.
Marking up Senate Banking Committee version as expected
At the same time, the review of the Senate Banking Committee’s version of the bill is still scheduled for Thursday. The full bipartisan text of this version was released Monday evening.
The Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Boozman, oversees the CFTC’s jurisdiction over commodities, including cryptocurrency spot markets. The Senate Banking Committee, chaired by Senator. Tim Scott (RS.C.), oversees the SEC’s oversight of securities-related digital assets. The two committees’ versions must be combined before full consideration by the Senate.
Main obstacles
The delay comes as the window narrows to pass this crucial legislation, which aims to establish a federal regulatory framework for digital assets.
Bernstein analysts have warned that the legislation must move forward by the second quarter or risk stalling due to the midterm elections, with stable rewards emerging as the main stumbling block.
Analysts at TD Cowen had warned earlier that the bill could be delayed until 2029 due to President that of Donald Trump cryptocurrency companies.
Democrats are seeking provisions that would prevent high-ranking government officials and their families, including Trump, from owning or operating cryptocurrency businesses.
Trump has generated approximately $620 million from businesses linked to his family, including Liberty Global Financial (CRYPTO: WLFI), a DeFi and stablecoin project listing Trump and his three sons as co-founders.
Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson expressed skepticism that the bill would pass in the first quarter and warned that Democrats would hold midterm elections on an anti-cryptocurrency basis due to the “catastrophic” Official Trump (CRYPTO: TRUMP) memecoin.
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