Senate Crypto Bill Hits Final-Mile Friction Over Ethics and Unions

While Senator Gillibrand claimed today that "nothing is holding up" the legislation, key provisions remain mired in disputes that threaten to push the timeline past the year-end deadline. The friction exposes the gap between Washington’s ambition to finalize a rulebook and the messy reality of omnibus lawmaking.

The Republican compromise

Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee have reportedly tabled a new three-page compromise offer containing more than 30 concessions to Democrats. According to a draft obtained by Politico, the offer includes strengthened consumer protection language, bankruptcy provisions, and stricter standards for digital asset intermediaries.

In exchange, Republicans are fighting to preserve core elements of their September framework, including protections for software developers ("code is speech") and a clear division of labor that hands spot market oversight to the CFTC.

The friction points

• Ethics: The White House has reportedly pushed back on ethics proposals that lack bite. A plan negotiated by Senators Lummis and Gallego was flagged for not going far enough to restrict officials from profiting from digital asset ventures.

• Unions: Organized labor has entered the chat. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and AFL-CIO sent a letter urging senators to withdraw the bill, warning it creates loopholes for "tokenized shadow stocks" and threatens retirement funds.
• Preemption: State regulators are lobbying against federal preemption, fearing a loss of authority over local crypto advertising and fraud enforcement.

Agencies set the direction

While Congress argues, the agencies are moving:

• SEC: Chair Paul Atkins is advancing "Project Crypto," an initiative to build a formal token taxonomy. His goal is to allow tokenized securities to trade on-chain under amended rules, while keeping them squarely under SEC jurisdiction.
• CFTC: The agency is moving ahead with pilot programs for digital asset collateral and spot-crypto trading venues.
• OCC: Comptroller Jonathan Gould signaled a reopening of the "De Novo" charter path in a speech Monday, indicating that well-supervised crypto-native firms could apply for national trust charters.

The reality check

Senate supporters are still aiming to unveil a fresh draft this week. But the combination of a looming government shutdown, unresolved ethics disputes, and new opposition from influential teachers' unions makes a clean passage in early 2026 far from guaranteed.

The delay contrasts sharply with jurisdictions like Abu Dhabi, which has already moved to license major exchanges under a single, unified framework, a disparity that US industry lobbyists are using to pressure lawmakers to cut a deal.