The chairperson of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, John Boozman, is expected to release legislative text today as part of the committee’s effort to draft crypto market structure legislation.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry is expected to publish its latest legislative text on non-stablecoin regulations before the end of the day. The text release is part of the committee’s objective to streamline legislation on the crypto market structure outside stablecoins. The committee had announced on January 13 that it would release the legislative text today, ahead of the committee markup scheduled for January 27.
The hearing on the crypto market structure bill was initially scheduled for January 15, but was postponed to January 21. Boozman said that the new schedule pushes for transparency and thorough scrutiny as the committee advances legislation to bring more clarity to crypto assets.
Senate Agriculture Committee to release legislative drafts for the crypto market structure bill
The legislative draft text will provide relevant crypto participants with a high-level overview of the key issues to focus on ahead of the committee markup towards the end of the month. The draft text will also indicate whether the additional two weeks of negotiations between Chairman Boozman (R-AR) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) resulted in a bipartisan bill.
The emerging issues in the crypto industry have sparked back-and-forth between Democratic and Republican committee members. These issues include whether memecoins should be added to the list of “digital goods,” funding for the CFTC to oversee crypto, and the overall listing standards of different tokens.
Members of the Banking Committee hope that the Agricultural Committee has reached a unanimous deal on crypto market structure legislation so that it can offer a center stage for their own markup. The banking committee postponed its markup last week after releasing its draft text and has not set a formal date.
Coinbase CEO says initial draft texts by the banking committee had “issues”
Coinbase has assumed the responsibility and has stepped up to push for further regulatory developments. CEO Brian Armstrong is in Davos with other banking CEOs, including Brian Moynihan of Bank of America and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan.
Brian Armstrong recently said in an interview that Coinbase had reviewed the draft texts from the banking committee and found “serious issues” in them. The CEO went ahead and said the committee showed no signs of resolving the issues, prompting the exchange to defend its customers. The banking committee decided to postpone its markup, giving Coinbase a chance to have a chat with bank CEOs in pursuit of a “win-win” outcome.
Cryptopolitan highlighted that the Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council, Patrick Witt, said that delaying the market structure bill could invite harsher regulation under a less crypto‑friendly Democratic administration. Witt seemed to be addressing Brian Armstrong after the exchange withdrew its support for the bill, citing “serious issues” with the draft texts.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also commented on the legislation. While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, today, he mentioned that members of Congress were “working very hard on crypto market structure legislation,” which he hopes to sign very soon to unlock new pathways for U.S. citizens to achieve financial freedom.
He also said he is still working to ensure “America remains the crypto capital of the world.” He emphasized that he already signed the landmark GENIUS Act into law to bring regulatory clarity to stablecoin issuance and usage. Trump said regulating crypto is part of his agenda to ensure the U.S. stays ahead of China.