While Senate lawmakers have worked since July on a comprehensive digital-asset market structure bill, progress may be “on hold” amid government gridlock and political fights. After the House passed the CLARITY Act last summer and sent it to the Senate, a long government shutdown, partisan ethics disputes and a contentious debate over stablecoin yield have slowed movement — and the upcoming midterm elections could further complicate timing.
One commodities-focused version of the market-structure bill has passed the Senate Agriculture Committee, but the Senate Banking Committee has not yet taken up a securities-focused bill after cancelling a January markup. Rebecca Liao, CEO of Web3 and AI protocol Saga and former Biden campaign adviser, told Cointelegraph the legislation was effectively stalled and disputed Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno’s suggestion that Congress could finish market-structure legislation by April.
Liao said urgency for crypto policy waned as markets cooled and institutional enthusiasm faded: when crypto was booming, regulators and lawmakers felt more pressure to act; now the political appetite is lower, and “it is not easy to get any sort of legislation through this Congress,” especially on a topic many voters find obscure in an election year.
A central sticking point is whether the bill should allow third-party platforms to pay yield to stablecoin holders. That debate prompted multiple reported meetings at the White House between Trump administration officials and representatives from the crypto and banking sectors. Some in banking argue that permitting such yield could undermine the traditional financial system and pose risks.
Crypto advocates remain cautiously optimistic. Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone said attendees at a recent forum, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, were upbeat about finding compromises, though concrete timelines beyond Moreno’s April estimate were lacking.
Complicating the legislative calendar, the 2026 election cycle has begun in some states with primaries already scheduled, and the Senate typically takes a month off for state work periods in August, returning about two months before the November general election. Those timing constraints, combined with partisan divisions and high-stakes policy debates, make rapid passage of a comprehensive market-structure bill before the midterms unlikely, according to several Washington observers.
