US Crypto Market Structure Bill on Track for April Committee Vote

According to Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, the legislation is now expected to be marked up in the Senate Banking Committee in the second half of April, with the goal of advancing a bipartisan package that could reach the Senate floor later this year. 

"We're still on track for April," Lummis said at the DC Blockchain Summit event on 18 Mar, adding that the effort is being coordinated with the Senate Agriculture Committee's separate work on digital commodities.  

Her comments came less than 24 hours after US regulators signaled a major crypto pivot, with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission announcing guidance that classifies most tokens as commodities rather than securities, a move that could ease one of the core jurisdictional disputes over crypto legislation.  

Lummis added that lawmakers working on the legislation are aiming to secure 60 or more votes and bring the bill to the Senate floor "before the end of the year." 

Ahead of a final floor vote, however, the bill is expected to face pressure from Senate Democrats to address ethics concerns, including proposals to bar elected officials and their families from profiting from digital asset ventures. "We're also going to have to deal with an ethics issue that the Banking Committee does not have jurisdiction over," she added.  

Stablecoin yield deal in reach

Lummis also pointed to progress in one of the most contentious areas of the legislation: whether stablecoin issuers can offer users some form of return. 

Discussions over stablecoin "yield" or rewards have been "essentially negotiated" among a small group that includes the White House, Coinbase and banks. Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks are involved in shaping the compromise. 

The purported deal will see banks swallow "something less than perfect," Lummis said.

Under the emerging framework, issuers would likely avoid using bank-like language such as "yield" or "APR," and any rewards mechanism may be structured so that it is not directly tied to a user's balance. "The banks got really dug in on this for reasons that still escape me," Lummis added.  

Banks split on crypto strategy 

The banking industry is far from unified on crypto. Lummis argued that "the big banks" are "exhorting their community bank colleagues to oppose this [legislation]" even while building "their own proprietary products" and back-office infrastructure to compete in digital assets. 

By contrast, credit unions have been more receptive. "They're excited about integrating digital assets with their offerings," she said, adding that they "see advantages to being able to offer traditional fiat-based products and digital products." 

"We’re going to see a rapid, I believe, integration between traditional financial institutions and digital asset companies," Lummis added.