In a year in which the United States holds elections that could shake up the balance of power in Congress, a Coinbase-backed cryptocurrency advocacy organization said its first priority is “to help pass federal legislation on digital asset market structure.”
In its annual report released Thursday, Stand With Crypto (SWC) said it added 675,000 people across the United States to its advocacy efforts, bringing its total to 2.6 million.
Although SWC said it would continue to mobilize its members “to support pro-crypto candidates in congressional races” in the 2026 US midterm elections, its “primary goal” was to help the Digital Asset Market Structure Bill pass through Congress.
The bill, called the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (RFIA) in the Senate, is expected to be reviewed in the Banking Committee next week. Lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee, who are drafting their own version of the bill, are also expected to anticipate a markup in the near future.
The digital asset market structure, if signed into law, is expected to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation impacting the crypto industry since its inception in 2009.
The CLARITY Act, which is the version of the market structure passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July, and RFIA plans showed that the bill could give the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission more power in regulating digital assets.
Mason Lynaugh, Stand With Crypto community director, told Cointelegraph in November that how lawmakers vote on the market structure bill could impact their re-election bids in 2026. All 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats are up for grabs, potentially allowing Democrats to regain majority control from Republicans.
Crypto industry groups plan meetings on Capitol Hill ahead of markup
Another crypto and blockchain advocacy group, The Digital Chamber, announced it would facilitate discussions between members of Congress and industry representatives on Thursday ahead of the markup of the market structure bill.
Some experts still worry that a possible government shutdown in late January could slow progress on the bill.
In October, U.S. lawmakers failed to reach agreement on a funding bill, shutting down many federal agencies and furloughing workers for 43 days, the longest in the country’s history. This event likely slowed the progress of the market structure bill in the Senate, after some Republican leaders predicted it would be signed into law by 2026.
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