The White House wants the congress to move to the legislation on the structure of the cryptocurrency market. When it comes to ironing the details, however, the legislators and stakeholders in the industry have work to do.
Speaking during an industry event in Washington, DC Thursday, Patrick Witt – the newly appointed executive director of the President’s advisers on digital assets – said that obtaining the finish line bill is an absolute priority.
The Republicans of the Senate last week revealed an update of their bill on the structure of the cryptographic market, the financial innovation law of 2025.
This week, a group of historically convivial Senate democrats published its own list of wishes for cryptographic market structure. The industry is still awaiting a market structure project of the Senatorial Agriculture Committee, which must be released before the legislators can move on to the margins of the legislation.
Members of the industry are generally satisfied with the republican project, according to three sources familiar with lobbying efforts. Some companies may not be so satisfied with the project of agriculture committee, however, that it says about the registration requirements, added a source.
The framework of the Democrats, published on Tuesday, aligns in many ways with the republican project, but includes an important update of the regulations of Stablescoin.
The law on engineering, which has become the law in July, stipulates that no stablecoin transmitter can offer a return or an interest in assets. In their proposal, the Democrats of the Senate goes further, suggesting a “prohibition of interest or yield paid by stablecoin issuers, including indirectly or through affiliates”.
The language of the engineering law prohibits the problems of offering yields directly, but does not block exchanges, nor the “affiliates”, to do so.
“Through affiliates” is a term of large banks sought -after included in the engineering law, and even after its promotion, they have not stopped putting pressure on the problem. In a August press release, the Bank Policy Institute urged legislators to use the bill on the market structure to “fill the fault” created by the law on engineering.
The cryptographic industry does not agree, arguing that the law on engineering allows exchanges and affiliates to pay interest to holders. Giving only banks such as allowances “tilt the rules of the game” and limits consumer options, wrote crypto lobbying groups in response to the Bank Policy Institute’s declaration.
Crypto Exchange Coinbase, which currently offers a USDC reward program on Coinbase Wallet Holdings, is particularly concerned about the language within the framework of Democrats – and by the efforts of the banking industry to revive the parts of the Act on Engineering.
“I expect President Scott and President Boozman to be on the structure of the market, and not on the revision of previous legislation,” said Coinbase policy, Faryar Shirzad.
“I am convinced that we will find ourselves in the right place at the other end, but it will require a good amount of work,” he added.
In March, when the negotiations of the Engineering Act were underway, the CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, stressed the need to allow payments of interest on stablescoins.
“We can choose to level the rules of the game and guarantee that these laws open a means for all regulated stablecoins to allow interests directly to consumers, in the same way as a savings or check account,” wrote Armstrong in an article on X.
The challenges are important, as shown by the size of the Stablescoin market today. The current market capitalization of Stablecoin is $ 251 billion, according to data compiled by blockworks Research. The Tether USDT leads with $ 170 billion in disseminated assets, followed by the Circle USDC with $ 72.3 billion.
Coinbase has a income sharing agreement with Circle, granting the exchange of 50% of reserve interest income.
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