The Senate Banking Committee has scheduled a markup for May 14 to advance comprehensive crypto legislation that would regulate the industry at the federal level for the first time.
This marks the committee’s second attempt at a markup after it cancelled one in January, when major crypto exchange Coinbase pulled its support over concerns including the treatment of stablecoin rewards.
What changed since January
The stablecoin rewards issue appears to have been resolved after two key senators released new language last week, though bank trade groups have argued the language “falls short.”
Before any bill becomes law, several steps remain.
The Senate Banking Committee must advance its version, then reconcile it with the version the Senate Agriculture Committee passed earlier this year.
That earlier bill moved forward without any Democratic support, with Trump’s crypto interests cited as a major obstacle.
Both Trump and Melania Trump launched memecoins ahead of the inauguration, and his family has led World Liberty Financial, which has raked in $1.4 billion since January.
Ethics provisions remain a sticking point
Democrats have pushed for amendments that would block the president, vice president, lawmakers, and other federal officials from making certain financial transactions involving digital assets, but those amendments were not included in the Agriculture Committee’s version.
On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand warned that there would be no deal without an ethics provision:
“There would be no crypto bill without an ethics provision in place.”
She also pushed for consumer protection language covering illicit finance and anti-terrorism funding.
Path to Trump’s desk
If the bill clears the full Senate with 60 votes, it heads to the House, which passed its own version last year with bipartisan support.
The final step would be sending the reconciled bill to Trump for his signature.
Lawmakers face a tightening window as available voting dates shrink and upcoming midterm elections move to the forefront.
