WASHINGTON, D.C. — Progress is being made behind the scenes on the Senate’s stalled cryptocurrency market structure bill, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee said Tuesday.
Senator Tim Scott, who heads the banking panel overseeing the market structure bill, told the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s DC Blockchain Summit that lawmakers could see a new draft that includes at least stablecoin language as early as this week.
Scott said stablecoin yields have been the most publicly debated issue in the market structure bill, but lawmakers are still involved.
“I believe we will receive the first proposals for our consideration this week,” he said. “If it does happen before this weekend, which I think it will, we’ll at least know what the sketch looks like for this guy. If that’s the case, I think we’ll be in a lot better shape.”
He praised Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and the White House’s Patrick Witt for their efforts on yields.
He said other outstanding issues have also been negotiated, particularly over the past month, citing lawmakers’ concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency projects, the lack of bipartisan commissioners at major regulators and know-your-customer regulations.
“I think we’re very close to landing the plane on the ethics issues and the quorum,” Scott said. “We know this is a big issue for our friends on the other side, so we’re addressing that as well. I think we’re moving forward with some work [nominations]which is good news, we were able to get some information from each other. I think the problem with DeFi is [Senator] Mark Warner hangs on to AML [anti-money laundering] is a very important part. So I think we’re solving that problem. “
