US Senate Banking panel member confirms April timeline for crypto market structure

Acknowledging there was ”still a lot more work to do” before Congress could advance a market structure bill, Senator Bill Hagerty renewed attention starting next week.

US Senate Banking Committee member Bill Hagerty said Monday that he expects a potential path for a digital asset market structure in the coming weeks after months of delays in Congress.

Speaking at the Digital Assets and Emerging Tech Policy Summit at Vanderbilt University, he said his fellow Republican lawmakers planned to move the bill through the banking panel starting next week.

“We will be in a position, I hope, to bring all of this together very soon,” said Hagerty, referring to work on the bill in the Senate. “On the banking committee side, I think we’re very close, and my expectation is that we get it into committee in this next work period that starts on Monday of next week, so that over the next several weeks we should have this into the banking committee.”

Originally titled the CLARITY Act when it passed the House of Representatives in July, the bill is considered by many lawmakers and industry leaders to be one of the most significant pieces of crypto legislation, but it has faced delays in Congress amid government shutdowns, industry pushback on stablecoin yield and ethics concerns.

It is expected to provide a comprehensive framework for cryptocurrencies in the US, including largely changing oversight of the market from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 

Because both agencies are involved, the legislation would need approval from the committee responsible for commodities — Senate Agriculture — and that for securities, the banking committee. The agriculture committee advanced its version of the crypto bill in a January markup, but concerns over tokenized equities, ethics, and stablecoin yield have delayed consideration in the banking committee, which needs to hold a markup before a potential floor vote in the Senate.

Related: CFTC chair says agency is ready to oversee entire crypto market

“We’re going into the midterms,” said Hagerty. “I think if we get this done in April, we can clearly get this taken care of before the midterms.”

Hagerty’s comments echoed those of Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, who said last week that lawmakers were “close to a deal” on stablecoin yield and other issues in the market structure bill.

According to the Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto, the way lawmakers vote on the legislation could impact their chances for the 2026 midterms, setting the stage for crypto interest groups to potentially influence another major US election.

The crypto-backed political action committee (PAC) Fairshake, which reported spending more than $130 million on media buys in the 2024 elections, said in January that it had a $193-million war chest ahead of the November 2026 midterms.

The group is not alone in its support for crypto on the national stage. The Fellowship PAC, which claimed to have raised “over $100 million” from undisclosed backers aligned with the crypto industry, announced the appointment of Tether executive Jesse Spiro as chair on Wednesday.

Magazine: Clarity Act risks repeat of Europe’s mistakes, crypto lawyer warns

Source: CoinTelegraph