Several cryptocurrency leaders will meet with key lawmakers on Wednesday as the U.S. Senate is set to pause negotiations on a cryptocurrency market structure bill, the industry’s most important policy goal.
Tim Scott, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee who is leading the effort to advance the bill, is chairing a meeting with several insiders and lobbying groups as lawmakers continue to negotiate some of the details of the bill, according to people familiar with the matter. This latest gathering is said to include officials from companies such as Coinbase, Kraken and Chainlink, as well as industry advocacy groups such as the Blockchain Association and the DeFi Education Fund, as well as Democratic lawmakers, Goldman Sachs Group and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).
Many of these executives have been routine visitors to Capitol Hill offices in recent weeks, as lawmakers from both parties struggle to find common ground on a market structure bill that could build on successful efforts earlier this year to pass laws governing U.S. stablecoin issuers.
While the industry had pinned its hopes on more concrete action on legislation this year, such as a bill that would also have to be approved by committees such as the Banking Committee or the Senate Agriculture Committee, the year-end target has now been pushed back to January. That creates some potential complications, such as a budget deadline late next month when Congress must revisit negotiating drama over a federal spending plan that has shut down the government for weeks this year.
Negotiations have so far been unresolved over issues including the treatment of decentralized finance (DeFi) and a Democratic proposal to bar top officials from having personal business relationships with the industry, a proposal largely aimed at President Donald Trump.