Senate Agriculture's Top Dem: Crypto Market Structure Effort Needs 'Serious Changes'

The Senate Agriculture Committee leapt into Congress' negotiation over crypto's market structure legislation with a hearing on Tuesday, and its ranking Democrat, Senator Amy Klobuchar, outlined the significant changes she'd like to see before she'd embrace the effort to set up digital assets regulations.

As the House potentially nears passage of its own market structure bill in the Digital Asset Markets Clarity Act (despite a procedural delay on Tuesday), Klobuchar's committee will need to sign off on its own legislation. And any major changes she and other Democrats are willing to pursue as a party could stretch the legislative process much longer than the Sept. 30 deadline that Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott has set.

“We're not going to be rolled here,” Klobuchar warned, calling for “some serious changes” to the regulatory proposals being discussed for U.S. crypto.

She suggested the bill needs to better nail down the funding of regulators that'll be tapped to oversee the rapidly growing new markets, should make a strong effort to protect consumers and needs to close off loopholes that you could “drive a truck through,” referring to the potential that existing securities regulations could be undermined.

The committee's Republican chairman, John Boozman, highlighted collaboration with the Banking Committee and regulators. So far, the other committee is outpacing his in working on legislation. The Republicans there have publicly released a set of principles they're following on the bill, though they haven't yet released a working draft.

“We must act expeditiously to develop a comprehensive regulatory framework for the trading of digital commodities, but we must ensure we get this right,” Boozman said.

While the Democrats are not in charge, many of their votes will be needed to clear the Senate's 60-vote hurdle for most legislation. Similar policy desires have also been expressed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Klobuchar's Democrat counterpart in the Senate Banking Committee, though crypto-critic Warren is unlikely to become a partner in the negotiation. Klobuchar's panel, though, has historically been more collaborative than Warren's.

On the major Senate vote on stablecoin legislation, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, Klobuchar was a no vote. Crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto has given Klobuchar an “F” rating for being against the industry.