US Senator Thom Tillis said he will push the Senate Banking Committee to advance the stalled Senate crypto bill, as lawmakers continue to debate stablecoin yield, crypto developer protections, and ethics rules.
Tillis, a Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee, told reporters on Wednesday that he would ask Chairman Tim Scott to schedule a markup when the Senate returns on May 11.
A markup is the committee process where lawmakers review a bill, debate changes, and vote on whether to move it forward. For the crypto market structure bill, that step could decide whether the Senate version moves past months of delay.
Thom Tillis Pushes Senate Crypto Bill Toward Markup
Thom Tillis said the Senate crypto bill has made progress. However, he said lawmakers now need a committee vote to move the process forward.
“I think that we’ve made a lot of progress,”
“But at the end of the day, until you have a forcing mechanism of a markup, everybody that really doesn’t want it done is going to have one more thing that they want to talk about, and I think it’s time to get it before the committee, move it forward.”
The crypto market structure bill would create clearer rules for the US crypto industry. It would set how the country’s main financial regulators oversee crypto markets.
Those regulators include the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The bill would help define which agency supervises different crypto assets and trading activities.
CLARITY Act Faces Delays in the Senate Banking Committee
The House of Representatives passed its version of the legislation, called the CLARITY Act, in July. However, the Senate version has remained stuck in negotiations.
The Senate Banking Committee delayed the bill’s markup in January. The delay came after disputes among lawmakers, crypto firms, and banking groups.
One major dispute involved stablecoin yield. Stablecoin yield means returns paid to users who hold or use stablecoins through certain platforms.
Major crypto lobbyist Coinbase pulled its support for the bill over a provision that would ban crypto exchanges from paying stablecoin yields. That decision added more pressure to the Senate crypto bill negotiations.
Banking lobbyists have pushed to keep the stablecoin yield ban in the legislation. They argue that the ban closes a perceived loophole in the GENIUS Act.
Stablecoin Yield Ban Remains Central to Crypto Market Structure Bill
The GENIUS Act bars stablecoin issuers from paying yield. Banking groups say exchanges and other third parties should not avoid that restriction by offering stablecoin yield themselves.
Thom Tillis said lawmakers have already responded to several banking sector concerns. He also said more discussions could happen if banking groups continue talks in good faith.
“I believe we’ve heard the concerns [and] addressed a lot of the concerns of the bank,”
Tillis said.
“There may be a few more that we can get there if they want to come and work in good faith; otherwise, I’m going to encourage the chair to move forward with the markup.”
The stablecoin yield provision remains one of the main issues in the crypto market structure bill. It affects crypto exchanges, stablecoin services, and banking groups.
Stablecoins play a major role in crypto trading and payments. They are digital tokens usually designed to track the value of assets such as the US dollar.
Senate Crypto Bill Text Could Arrive Before May 11 Markup
Thom Tillis said he hopes lawmakers release the updated Senate crypto bill text at least four days before the markup.
He also said crypto and banking stakeholders could receive a preview before the public release. That would allow them to review the latest version before the Senate Banking Committee vote.
The final bill text remains important because several issues remain under discussion. These include stablecoin yield, crypto developer protections, and crypto ethics rules.
Crypto developer protections have become another key part of the talks. These protections would limit legal risk for software developers when other people use their platforms for illegal activity.
According to Politico, Tillis said on Tuesday that the crypto market structure bill would “need to address the law enforcement concerns” around that provision.
Crypto Developer Protections and Ethics Rules Shape the Debate
Thom Tillis told reporters on Wednesday that he was “generally in support” of the progress Senator Cynthia Lummis had made on the crypto developer protections language.
Cynthia Lummis has worked on crypto policy in the Senate. Her role in the developer language has become part of the wider Senate crypto bill negotiations.
The ethics section has also become a major issue. On Monday, Tillis backed a demand supported by many Senate Banking Democrats.
He said the bill must include crypto ethics rules before it leaves the Senate. These rules would limit how government officials can use and promote crypto.
“There has to be ethics language in the bill before it leaves the Senate, or I’ll go from one of the people working on negotiating it to voting against it,” Tillis said.
The next step now depends on whether Tim Scott schedules the markup after the Senate returns on May 11.
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