Markup for the Senate's Crypto Market Structure Bill Delayed Until Late January

Senate Agriculture Committee Delays Crypto Legislation Markup

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry has decided to push back its review of comprehensive cryptocurrency market structure legislation to the final week of January. Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) explained that while bipartisan negotiations made headway over the weekend, additional time is needed to resolve remaining points of contention before the bill can proceed.

In a statement released Monday, Boozman emphasized that the committee would postpone its consideration to ensure the legislation garners the broad bipartisan backing necessary for advancement.

This delay leaves the fate of the ongoing discussions uncertain. The level of industry support will depend on how lawmakers ultimately address issues related to decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoins as the bill heads toward a new markup later this month and faces a potential bipartisan test in the Senate.

“I am dedicated to moving forward with bipartisan crypto market structure legislation,” Boozman stated. “We have achieved significant progress and engaged in productive talks as we work toward this objective.”

The committee had originally planned to review the bill on Thursday, January 15, in coordination with the Banking Committee’s scheduled action on market structure.

Private Meetings and Ongoing Negotiations

Last week, representatives from the cryptocurrency and financial sectors held private discussions to address the details of the crypto market structure bill. This legislation, introduced in 2023 by a bipartisan group in the House, passed the House in May 2024 but stalled in the Senate that same year.

During these talks, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), a prominent Wall Street trade group, sought to bridge differences over the Senate’s approach to crypto market structure. Meanwhile, crypto policy advocates worked to temper some of SIFMA’s proposals.

According to sources who spoke with Decrypt, unresolved topics include the regulatory treatment of decentralized finance and the handling of yield-generating stablecoins.

Key Issues: DeFi and Stablecoins

In the crypto space, decentralized finance (DeFi) refers to blockchain-based platforms that allow users to trade, lend, or manage assets directly through software, bypassing traditional banks or brokers.

The policy debate centers on whether developers of these decentralized systems should be subject to the same regulations as financial intermediaries, especially when they do not have control over user assets.

Yield-generating stablecoins are tokens pegged to the US dollar that provide holders with returns, usually by distributing interest earned on reserves.

Although the GENIUS Act, signed by President Donald Trump last year, established foundational rules for stablecoin issuance, it left unresolved how yield-bearing stablecoins and DeFi applications should be regulated. These outstanding questions are now central to the current debate over crypto market structure.