Days of our Market Restructuring Bill Projects: The State of Cryptocurrencies.

There will come a time when this newsletter does not cover cryptocurrency market restructuring legislation. But that time is not now.

Partisan Concerns

Narrative

The Senate Agriculture Committee published a draft of the new Cryptocurrency Market Restructuring Bill last Wednesday.

Importance of the Topic

This law, like other bills introduced by the Banking Committee, aims to reshape the federal regulatory framework to define how regulatory agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission oversee cryptocurrency markets. Once again, the question remains: will this law be approved during the debate session, and will it be passed by the full Senate?

Topic Analysis

Naturally, the new bill focuses more on the (#CFTC ) Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and how it regulates digital commodities. It was expected that the Agriculture Committee would present a more bipartisan bill, which, if not easily passed during the debate phase, would at least be less controversial than the Banking Committee’s bill.

The first signs of the problem appeared earlier this week when many people told Jesse Hamilton that they feared the bill might be partisan, risking its passage in the Senate.

These concerns apparently confirmed when Senator John Bozeman, the Republican chairman of the committee, acknowledged "fundamental policy differences" in a statement thanking Senator Cory Booker, the lead Democrat negotiating the bill.

He stated: "Although it is unfortunate that we could not reach an agreement, I am grateful for the cooperation that helped improve this legislation. It’s time to pass this bill, and I look forward to discussing it next week."

Late Friday, Democrats ( and some Republicans ) submitted several proposed amendments for discussion on Tuesday. To remind, the debate session is the stage where lawmakers will discuss the bill’s provisions and proposed amendments. Members of the Senate will then vote on the amendments before voting on the bill itself.

Preliminary review of the new text indicates that lawmakers have at least reached an agreement on issues such as whether the quorum for the (CFTC) should be bipartisan to manage the agency — a point that was debated in the previous discussion draft.

Congress believes that before implementing this law, the (CFTC) should be fully staffed... meaning the number of nominated commissioners should be at least two, and before appointments, this should be done in consultation and coordination with the senior member of the minority, according to one clause.

Other clauses may be more controversial.

As with the banking version of the bill, this draft includes a clause related to legal protections for developers. One committee member is Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican from Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who sent a letter to the Banking Committee last week clarifying that such provisions fall within his jurisdiction.

Most of the bill’s provisions seem generally acceptable to the crypto industry. As of this writing, no significant concerns have been raised about the text or its potential impact on digital currency companies.

All this makes next week’s scheduled hearing uncertain.

One observer noted that the bill might gain bipartisan support, allowing it to pass with bipartisan consensus, even if it does not have full approval in its current form.

It is also possible that the threat of challenges in the primaries, funded by crypto political action committees like "Fiersick," could persuade enough Democrats to vote in favor of the bill, ensuring a comfortable majority when it is presented to the Senate.

Alternatively, the bill could pass on a strictly partisan basis, which would complicate matters further in the Senate.

Or it might not pass ( as I pointed out last week, but that would not be the end of the world ).

To increase the likelihood, the Senate Banking Committee may not revisit the market structure discussion for several weeks. Several people told CoinDesk earlier this week that the White House and committee members want the crypto industry and banking lobby groups to reach solutions to their stablecoin yield issues before resuming this discussion.

Everything remains uncertain.

Here are some other things to watch next week:

A massive snowstorm appears to be heading toward the East Coast, with a snow/ice storm accompanied by a sharp drop in temperatures targeting the Midwest and the South/Southeast US. This storm is expected to begin Saturday night and last until Monday morning. The Senate was on recess last week, meaning many members are in their home states. Snowstorms are known to disrupt air travel.

One observer reported that if Senate Agriculture Committee members cannot return in time for the Tuesday hearing, it may be postponed.

A committee spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment regarding the potential delay.

Most importantly, another critical deadline is approaching: the US government funding runs out on Friday. The House quickly approved a funding package on Thursday and sent it to the Senate, but the Senate still needs to vote on it. This could take significant time and effort next week.

This Week

Tuesday

( 15:00 UTC ) 10:00 AM Eastern Time (: The chairs of the SEC and CFTC will hold a joint meeting to discuss effective regulatory cooperation.

) 20:00 UTC #BitcoinWeakensVsGold 3:00 PM Eastern Time #ETHTrendWatch : The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing to review its version of the cryptocurrency market restructuring legislation.
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