US digital asset legislation hearing meets cold response, senator's absence raises bipartisan cooperation doubts

On June 25th, PANews reported that at the hearing on “Exploring the legislative framework of the digital asset market” on Tuesday, several members of the US Senate Banking Committee’s digital asset subcommittee were absent. Chair Cynthia Lummis stated that there were “many committee meetings scheduled for the day,” resulting in only 5 out of the 11 senators who were supposed to attend being present to ask questions. Lummis acknowledged the lack of participation and stated that she did not want the bill to be perceived as lacking sufficient involvement. She expressed confusion about the current state of bipartisan cooperation and speculated that concerns about certain individuals gaining an advantage may be due to the involvement of some members of the new government in the digital asset space.

The market structure legislation proposed by the Senate comes after the House’s efforts to pass the CLARITY Act. The bill was approved by the committee in June and is expected to be voted on by the full House soon.