US Senator Bill Hagerty, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said Monday he expects a path forward for a digital asset market-structure bill in the coming weeks after months of delays in Congress. Speaking at the Digital Assets and Emerging Tech Policy Summit at Vanderbilt University, he said Republican senators planned to move the measure through the banking panel starting next week.
“We will be in a position, I hope, to bring all of this together very soon,” Hagerty said, referring to Senate work on the bill. “On the banking committee side, I think we’re very close, and my expectation is that we get it into committee in this next work period that starts on Monday of next week, so that over the next several weeks we should have this into the banking committee.”
Hagerty acknowledged outstanding issues but expressed confidence they were solvable: “There’re several issues still outstanding, I think none of them are insurmountable and we will get to a point I believe in April that we’ll have it out of the banking committee. There’s still a lot more work to do.”
The bill, originally titled the CLARITY Act when the House passed it in July, is widely seen as one of the most significant pieces of U.S. crypto legislation. It has faced delays from government shutdowns, industry pushback over stablecoin yield, and ethics concerns. The legislation would create a broad regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, largely shifting market oversight from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Because the SEC and CFTC jurisdictions both factor in, the bill requires action from two panels: Senate Agriculture (which handles commodities) and Senate Banking (which handles securities). The Agriculture Committee advanced its version in a January markup, but lingering questions around tokenized equities, ethics, and stablecoin yields have stalled consideration in the Banking Committee, which must hold a markup before any potential Senate floor vote.
Hagerty said completing the bill in April could allow Congress to finish the work before the 2026 midterms. His comments echoed Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal, who said lawmakers were “close to a deal” on stablecoin yield and other sticking points.
The timing is politically significant: the crypto industry has been increasingly active in elections. Stand With Crypto notes that how lawmakers vote could affect their 2026 midterm prospects. Crypto-backed PACs have already spent heavily; Fairshake reported over $130 million in 2024 media buys and said in January it had a $193 million war chest ahead of the 2026 midterms. The Fellowship PAC, which has claimed more than $100 million raised from undisclosed crypto-aligned backers, recently named Tether executive Jesse Spiro as chair.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This article follows Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate, timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read the Editorial Policy at https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy