- The Senate Agriculture Committee began a markup of a key crypto market structure bill, debating 11 amendments including provisions on ethics and bailouts.
- Democratic senators criticized the bill’s lack of bipartisan input and raised concerns about oversight by an understaffed CFTC.
- Amendments proposed by Democrats to ban federal crypto bailouts and include ethics provisions were voted down largely along party lines.
- Lawmakers “do not want to be criminalizing people who are writing code,” said Senator Cory Booker, highlighting concerns for developers.
A pivotal markup session for landmark crypto legislation began in the Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday, January 29th, marking Congress’s critical effort to create clearer rules for digital assets. The session will determine the bipartisan support and potential resistance faced by the long-awaited market structure bill.
However, the process revealed significant partisan divides as lawmakers voted along party lines against key Democratic amendments. An ethics amendment from Senator Michael Bennet, intended to prevent profiteering, was rejected in a 12 to 11 vote. Consequently, an amendment from Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, which suggested prohibiting federal bailouts for crypto intermediaries, also failed.
Democratic Senator Cory Booker expressed frustration over the lack of recent bipartisan collaboration compared to an earlier draft. He emphasized goals including regulatory coordination between the SEC and CFTC and protecting self-custody and innovators, stating, “We do not want to be criminalizing people who are writing code.” Meanwhile, ranking member Amy Klobuchar raised concerns about granting new authority to a CFTC with only one confirmed commissioner, arguing “We can’t give this CFTC this broad new authority when it only has one member.”
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