Thursday (Jan. 15) was supposed to be a big day for the digital asset sector as the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee prepared for a synchronized markup on two variations of a crypto markets bill. By Wednesday night (Jan. 14), momentum had fizzled over unresolved issues raised by financial services groups and crypto advocates. The Agriculture Committee postponed their markup to the end of the month, and the Senate Banking Committee followed suit. The proximate cause was Coinbase’s announcement that it couldn’t support the bill as written, with CEO Brian Armstrong saying some provisions would leave the industry materially worse than the current status quo.
That statement triggered swift procedural pushback, with lawmakers signaling that the text would require renegotiation or face further delays. Still, other firms, including Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev, reaffirmed support for the underlying market-structure bill even as the markup was delayed. The White House and industry stakeholders stressed a bipartisan path forward, while regulators weigh how to balance incentives, DeFi oversight, and consumer protections.
For policymakers, the result represented a classic Washington dynamic: the louder the stakeholder chorus, the harder it is to discern a policy position. Industry opposition to specific provisions has stalled what observers hoped would be a landmark policy regulating digital asset markets and building on the momentum of the GENIUS Act, which was signed into law over the summer. Banks have lobbied against crypto offerings resembling deposit products, especially stablecoin rewards that compete with regulated interest accounts, prompting provisions aimed at limiting crypto incentives. They have also pressed the OCC and the Federal Reserve to issue guidance discouraging banks from partnering with stablecoin programs that engage in yield-adjacent products.
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