Timeline in flux

Crypto bill timeline in flux as Democrats press for more input

Senate Banking GOP staff has indicated openness to waiting until the week of Oct. 20 to mark up the market structure bill, according to aides.

Jasper Goodman

Key Senate Democrats are publicly pressing Republicans for a greater role in drafting a cryptocurrency market structure bill that GOP lawmakers hope to pass this year, signaling that bipartisan talks over digital asset legislation are again facing headwinds.

A bloc of 12 crypto-friendly Democratic senators wrote in a joint statement Friday that they “hope our Republican colleagues will agree to a bipartisan authorship process, as is the norm for legislation of this scale.”

The statement comes as Senate Banking Republicans are rushing to advance the crypto bill, which would divvy up oversight of digital assets between market regulators, out of committee this month. Democrats have pressed for more time to negotiate a bipartisan agreement after GOP senators finalized a draft bill earlier this month.

“Given our shared interest in moving forward quickly on this issue, we hope they will agree to reasonable requests to allow for true collaboration,” the Democrats wrote Friday.

Democrats are pressing behind the scenes for a greater role in drafting the language of the crypto bill, as opposed to providing input on a GOP-written product, according to two Democratic aides involved in the process who were granted anonymity to discuss closed-door talks. Democrats also want to be looped in on technical assistance offered by regulatory agencies and more engaged in coordinating with the Senate Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over the parts of the bill involving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the aides said.

Banking GOP staff has indicated openness to waiting until the week of Oct. 20 to mark up the market structure bill, according to the aides, but no schedule has been finalized. Banking Chair Tim Scott previously vowed to advance the bill in September, and Republicans on the panel have said in recent weeks they are targeting a Sept. 30 markup.

A spokesperson for Scott said in a statement that the South Carolina lawmaker “and his Republican colleagues on the Banking Committee have a proven track record of bipartisanship,” pointing to previous bills the panel advanced with Democratic support, including housing legislation, a narrower crypto measure that is now law and a pair of bills Scott co-sponsored last year.

“It has been quite some time since we have seen such bipartisanship on the Banking Committee,” said the spokesperson, Jeff Naft. “Chairman Scott and his colleagues have worked hard to build trust and hope their Democratic counterparts will come to the table to make America the crypto capital of the world.”

The Friday statement from the Democrats — signed by Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Mark Warner of Virginia and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, among others — comes after the same bloc of lawmakers released a set of principles earlier this month that they hope to see incorporated in crypto market structure legislation.

Democrats have significant leverage to shape the crypto bill because bipartisan support is needed to pass it on the Senate floor. Republicans could advance the bill out of committee without Democratic buy-in, but doing so could quash momentum for the effort, and it is unclear if all GOP members of the panel are on board.

A spokesperson for Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a leading crypto industry ally who chairs a Senate Banking subcommittee on digital assets, said in a statement that she and Scott “have worked tirelessly to promote a bipartisan and transparent process in crafting comprehensive market structure legislation.”

“The Democrats’ recent market structure framework demonstrates a shared commitment to ensuring the U.S. leads the world in digital asset innovation,” said the spokesperson, Katie Warbinton. “While we have been actively soliciting feedback from our Democratic counterparts since July without receiving input, we remain committed to bipartisan collaboration. We are hopeful the Democrats will work with us to help achieve this shared goal and secure our financial future for generations to come.”