The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced legislation on Thursday that would establish a federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, moving the bill forward on a party-line vote. If enacted, the measure would vest the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with authority to oversee spot crypto markets and to set rules for digital commodity exchanges, brokers and dealers.
The committee vote, split along partisan lines, signals potential difficulty securing passage in the full Senate. To reach the president's desk and ultimately become law, the bill would need support from at least seven Senate Democrats in addition to unified Republican backing, the measure's proponents acknowledge.
Separately, a companion bill under consideration in the Senate Banking Committee has proven more contentious. That version has become the focus of intense lobbying from both banks and cryptocurrency firms, centered on a disputed provision over whether crypto companies should be permitted to pay interest on dollar-pegged tokens commonly referred to as stablecoins. The banking-panel bill has not yet been brought to a committee vote.
The crypto industry has argued that a market structure bill is vital to its future operations in the United States, offering legal clarity and a regulatory framework for companies engaged in digital-asset trading. Industry groups invested heavily during the 2024 election cycle to support candidates perceived as friendly to crypto, aiming to secure passage of a landmark market structure bill. The U.S. House of Representatives passed its own version of crypto legislation in July.
Despite those efforts, the Agriculture Committee's Democratic members did not back the bill. None of the Democrats on the panel voted to advance the measure on Thursday, and several expressed substantive objections.
"We’re almost in the red zone on this bill, and that frustrates me, because I see a bipartisan glide path to land this plane, to punch through the end zone," said Senator Cory Booker, the committee's top Democrat, using a football analogy ahead of the vote. Booker said he wanted additional provisions related to decentralized finance and that his discussions with other committee members over those issues were not reflected in the legislation.
Other Democrats have raised concerns that the bill does not include safeguards to prevent political officials from profiting from crypto ventures. Those objections contribute to the uncertainty about whether the measure can secure the necessary cross-party support in the full Senate.
The White House has scheduled a meeting on Monday with executives from the banking and cryptocurrency industries to discuss potential paths forward for the Senate Banking Committee, which still must decide whether to advance its companion bill. The outcome of those talks and of further negotiations in both committees will shape whether Congress can reconcile competing interests and move a crypto regulatory framework to final consideration.
For now, the Agriculture Committee's action marks a notable procedural step but leaves major questions unresolved about the legislation's prospects in the broader Senate and about the balance of regulatory authority and consumer protections that any final bill would include.