US Senate Committees Set Markup on Crypto Market Structure Bill

• On January 6, the chair of the banking committee, Senator Tim Scott, revealed that the body would vote on market structure on January 15.
• The previous drafts of the bill are anticipated to be a significant piece of legislation associated with crypto and blockchain. 

Next week, a markup event on legislation on digital asset market structure is scheduled. It is anticipated that representatives from cryptocurrency firms will reach Washington, D.C., to engage with policymakers on the bill. 

The chief executive officer, Cody Carbone, of crypto advocacy organisation The Digital Chamber, mentioned that it was possible, if not likely, that the Senate Agriculture Committee would grab a markup on its category of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (RFIA), the market structure bill, as well as the Senate Banking Committee. 

On January 6, the chair of the banking committee, Senator Tim Scott, revealed that the body would vote on market structure on January 15. Before the consideration by both committees, the Digital Chamber revealed that it had been intensely involved in drafting the legislation. 

He has also been called by the policymakers to give feedback on various versions of the bills. The CEO also mentioned that the firm will take in over 50 member companies on January 8 to carry on educating Senate offices on the need for a bill and answer any questions related to it.  

He further added that they have been very intentional for their diverse membership to take in participants from all over the digital asset ecosystem, exchanges, token issuers, banks, Bitcoin miners and others. 

The Significant Piece of Legislation 

The previous drafts of the bill, anticipated to be a significant piece of legislation associated with crypto and blockchain, indicated that policymakers planned to provide the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) more authority in the regulation of digital assets. Till now, the SEC is leading in offering regulation and enforcement over a lot of crypto firms. 

On January 5, investment bank TD Cowen gave notice to investors with an alert that the RFIA was more likely to pass Congress in 2027, having the last implementation possibly as late as 2029. 

The bank predicted that the 2026 midterm election could lead some Senate Democrats to take their support off the bill, having Republicans possibly lose the major part of control in November.

The similar sentiment was also proposed by Republican Senator and Banking Committee member Thom Tillis, who in October stated policymakers should act by early January or February to ignore conflicts with campaigning for the 2026 elections. 

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