The year is off to a regulatory-focused start as lawmakers appear to be making progress on market-structure legislation. The White House has begun new discussions with leaders from the financial and crypto sectors about stablecoin yields and compensation. Participants to date are primarily trade groups and lobbyists, with some companies dispatching policy team members. The parties are expected to debate the extent of concessions on yield terms, potentially setting the stage for renewed Senate Banking Committee negotiations.
Beyond yield, several issues remain unsettled, including DeFi anti-money laundering and know-your-customer provisions, whether regulators should meet bipartisan quorum requirements, and the ethics rules for the president and other lawmakers. Markup hearings are expected in the coming weeks as the policy debate intensifies. President Trump has indicated his intention to nominate former Fed governor Kevin Warsh as chair, a move the Senate Banking Committee would shepherd. At the agency level, SEC and CFTC chiefs signaled progress toward regulatory harmonization, directing formal rules on topics such as predictive markets and tokenized collateral, while lawmakers push for bipartisan solutions ahead of the elections.
This year’s regulatory backdrop is the upcoming elections. Fairshake, a crypto-focused super PAC funded by crypto firms, has announced it has raised roughly $200 million. The White House convened a meeting this week between crypto and banking sector representatives to discuss stablecoin yields and compensation. On Wednesday at 15:00 UTC, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, chaired by Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, was to submit its annual report to the House Committee on Financial Services and to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday at 15:00 UTC.
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