U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) speaks as Brian Quintenz, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), testifies before a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., June 10, 2025.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee voted along party lines Thursday to advance its version of a cryptocurrency market structure bill aimed at creating a CFTC regulator over digital products, a major development for digital asset regulation.
The Digital Products Intermediaries Act advanced on a party-line vote with 12 Republicans voting “yes” and 11 Democrats voting “no.” The vote is notable because it is the first time a crypto market structure bill has moved beyond a Senate committee. The Senate Banking Committee will also need to approve its version of a crypto market structure bill before the two measures can combine and pass the full Senate.
Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee John Boozman, R-Ark., passed the bill after losing bipartisan support for an earlier version. Boozman had worked with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., on a bill last year, but Booker distanced himself from the version passed by the committee Thursday. However, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said in an interview with CNBC last week that she was “very optimistic” that the Agriculture Committee would move forward with its measure.
The Senate Banking Committee’s consideration of its version of the bill was postponed from January 15 at the last minute after opposition from the crypto industry, including Coinbase. A new banking date has not yet been set. Boozman said Thursday he looks forward to working with the Banking Committee on issues discussed in his committee. These points include crypto ATM scams.
Boozman, in a statement released Thursday, called the vote “a crucial step toward creating clear rules for digital asset markets.” He said “there is still work to be done,” adding that he “hopes” this development “will create momentum in the Senate to move this legislation forward.”
He said the measure would establish a clear legal definition of digital products and create a regulatory regime for digital product intermediaries in the spot market with the CFTC. He said the bill would also create protections for consumers, including conflict of interest safeguards and customer disclosure requirements.
Boozman released the current version on January 21 to give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission new authority to regulate digital assets. The legislation builds on the bipartisan CLARITY Act, the crypto market structure bill that the House of Representatives passed last summer, and incorporates provisions negotiated with Senate Democrats as well as feedback received during bipartisan stakeholder meetings, according to Boozman.
During Thursday’s hearing, Booker noted that a bipartisan discussion draft had been released in November and said that when he returned to Washington in January, he learned that his “Republican colleagues were walking away from the bipartisan process that produced the draft” and that they were also “walking away from many points” that upheld our agreement.
Booker said “the product before us today is not the bipartisan plan we have been working on.”
“This was negotiated between two parties around the table, but it is not consistent with the principles that we laid out in November in a bipartisan way,” he said. “However, despite this, I still believe deeply in the work we have done. We have come so far.”
Booker said Democrats’ concerns about the bill include President Donald Trump “making fun of crypto himself,” which he called “ridiculous.”
He said “the president of the United States and his family have made billions of dollars from this industry and are still trying to create a framework here without the kind of ethics that would prevent this kind of gross corruption in our country that would undermine our country’s democracy.”
CNBC reached out to the White House for comment on Democrats’ concerns related to the president’s crypto plans, but did not immediately respond. However, in previous statements, a White House spokesperson told CNBC that “there were no conflicts of interest.”
On Thursday, Democrats proposed amendments that would have included banning officials — including the president — from engaging in the crypto industry and combating foreign adversaries’ involvement in digital products. None were approved, with Boozman saying the issues fall outside the purview of the Agriculture Committee.
