Vote on Sen. Stabenow's crypto bill delayed, work may resume in September

Plans to vote on a U.S. Senate bill to regulate crypto this week have reportedly been tossed, but it could be picked up again when lawmakers return to Washington in September.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has been working on that bill and planned to hold a markup hearing on Wednesday but wasn't able to get support from the top Republican on that committee, Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., Politico reported on Sunday. 

"The legislation has been going through several iterations as industry leaders and committee members are continuing to provide input to Senator Stabenow’s team," said Cody Carbone, chief policy officer at The Digital Chamber, in a statement sent to The Block. "At this moment, it appears that consideration of the legislation will move to after August recess in order to build more consensus. It’s positive that Senator Stabenow continues to reach out to stakeholders for feedback.”

Boozman said he appreciated Stabenow's efforts to address concerns he had and says they have "moved in the right direction," according to a statement released later on Monday. 

"Digital commodities and the regulatory issues they raise are complex," Boozman said. "Standing up a market regulatory regime for the first time ever requires due diligence and outreach necessary to consider all unintended consequences and warrants a process that gives members adequate time to deliberate the legislation they are being asked to approve."

Stabenow said she was working with the Senate Banking Committee on her bill and said she needs a Republican senator "to step up," according to a statement released by her office obtained by Politico's Eleanor Mueller. 

"It seems, at least on the Stabenow effort, it just ran out of time, at least, to be done by the end of July," said Ron Hammond, director of government relations at the Blockchain Association, in an interview. He noted that lawmakers are focused on their own campaigns ahead of the U.S. election in November. The House is on August recess starting this week, while the Senate starts their recess at the end of this week. Lawmakers come back during the second week of September. 

Stabenow said her bill would give the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority over "digital commodities" and permanent funding to the CFTC to oversee that market. The bill would specifically require crypto firms to hold sufficient capital reserves and have strict cybersecurity standards. It also aims to protect retail customers by giving them accurate information about their assets.

Stabenow's bill is not dead, Hammond added, and said he expected it to be brought up again in September.

"It is moving forward from all accounts and from all sources on both sides of the aisle, but they're still seeing a lot of unresolved issues, both politically, but also with the text itself," Hammond said. 

On the House side, lawmakers passed a Republican-led crypto market structure bill in May that gives new jurisdiction to the CFTC over "digital commodities" and asserts the SEC would oversee "digital assets offered as part of an investment contract."

The House and Senate would have to resolve differences if their bills came out differently, which takes time, Hammond said. The House bill is not a companion bill to Stabenow's bill. 

Updated on July 29 at 9:25 p.m. UTC time to include statements from Boozman and Stabenow