The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry has postponed a planned markup of sweeping crypto market structure legislation to the last week of January, with Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) saying bipartisan talks had progressed over the past weekend, but still required more time to finalize outstanding issues before the bill could advance.
A delay now leaves the outcome of those talks unresolved, with industry support still contingent on how lawmakers ultimately address DeFi and stablecoins as the bill moves to a new markup later this month and a potential test of bipartisan backing in the Senate.
“I remain committed to advancing bipartisan crypto market structure legislation,” Boozman wrote. “We have made meaningful progress and had constructive discussions as we work toward this goal.”
During discussions, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), a key Wall Street trade group, pressed to narrow disagreements over the Senate’s crypto market-structure bill, while crypto policy advocates sought to moderate SIFMA's requests.
Sources familiar with the meeting previously told Decrypt that the treatment of decentralized finance and questions around yield-bearing stablecoins were among the issues still being debated.
The policy dispute centers on whether developers of these systems should face the same regulatory obligations as financial intermediaries when they do not control user assets.
