{"id":67850,"date":"2026-01-15T11:01:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=67850"},"modified":"2026-01-15T11:01:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:01:43","slug":"crypto-market-structure-bill-paused-senate-banking-cancels-markup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=67850","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Market Structure Bill Paused: Senate Banking Cancels Markup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Senate Banking Committee has pulled the scheduled Thursday markup of its crypto asset market structure bill after a late-stage flare-up with Coinbase, freezing what had looked like a tightening path toward action. The pause lands at a sensitive moment for Washington\u2019s crypto negotiations: industry heavyweights are publicly splitting over the Senate draft even as lawmakers insist bipartisan talks are still alive.<\/p>\n

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said Wednesday the committee will postpone the markup \u201cas bipartisan negotiations continue,\u201d framing the delay as tactical rather than terminal. \u201cI\u2019ve spoken with leaders across the crypto industry, the financial sector, and my Democratic and Republican colleagues, and everyone remains at the table working in good faith,\u201d Scott wrote<\/a> on X. \u201cAs we take a brief pause before moving to a markup, this market structure bill reflects months of serious bipartisan negotiations and real input from innovators, investors, and law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott positioned the bill as a foundational framework rather than a narrow industry carveout. \u201cThe goal is to deliver clear rules of the road that protect consumers, strengthen our national security, and ensure the future of finance is built in the United States,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Coinbase Breaks Ranks Late<\/h2>\n

The immediate catalyst was Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who said the exchange \u201ccan\u2019t support the bill as written\u201d after reviewing \u201cthe Senate Banking draft text over the last 48hrs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armstrong argued the draft contains multiple provisions he says would be \u201cmaterially worse than the current status quo,\u201d contending that it amounts to \u201ca defacto ban on tokenized equities,\u201d includes \u201cDeFi prohibitions\u201d that expand government access to financial records and erode privacy, and would \u201cstifl[e] innovation\u201d by weakening the CFTC<\/a> relative to the SEC.<\/p>\n

He also pointed to \u201cdraft amendments\u201d he said \u201cwould kill rewards on stablecoins,\u201d warning the changes could allow banks to \u201cban their competition.\u201d Armstrong\u2019s bottom line was blunt: \u201cWe\u2019d rather have no bill than a bad bill.\u201d Still, he struck a conciliatory note about process and odds of a compromise, adding he was \u201cquite optimistic\u201d that continued work could produce \u201cthe right outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

After reviewing the Senate Banking draft text over the last 48hrs, Coinbase unfortunately can\u2019t support the bill as written.<\/p>\n

There are too many issues, including:<\/p>\n

\u2013 A defacto ban on tokenized equities
\n\u2013 DeFi prohibitions, giving the government unlimited access to your financial\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That posture split the difference between hard opposition to the text and support for continued negotiations,an important distinction as the markup process is typically where senators offer and vote amendments.<\/p>\n

Crypto Industry Split<\/h2>\n

Coinbase\u2019s stance quickly triggered a counter-response from other major crypto firms and advocacy groups backing the Senate Banking GOP\u2019s push. Support was voiced by a16z, Circle, Kraken<\/a>, The Digital Chamber, Ripple, and Coin Center, coalescing into a public front aimed at keeping momentum intact despite the delay.<\/p>\n

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse cast<\/a> the bill as overdue but directionally positive. \u201cWhile long-overdue, this move by @SenatorTimScott and @BankingGOP on market structure is a massive step forward in providing workable frameworks for crypto, while continuing to protect consumers,\u201d he wrote. He said Ripple would remain engaged, adding: \u201cWe are at the table and will continue to move forward with fair debate. I remain optimistic that issues can be resolved through the mark-up process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Tim Draper said Armstrong\u2019s opposition is justified, arguing the Senate compromise \u201cis worse than no bill at all\u201d and suggesting that \u201cthe banks have been meddling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Rasmussen, Head of Research at Bitwise Asset Management , called<\/a> the current CLARITY Act draft broadly harmful, listing tokenization, stablecoins, DeFi, privacy, builders, users, investors, and innovation, and concluded that the industry would \u201crather have no bill than a bad bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House Crypto Czar David Sacks<\/a> urged the industry to treat the delay as a narrow window to align rather than an opening to splinter. \u201cPassage of market structure legislation remains as close as it\u2019s ever been,\u201d Sacks wrote. \u201cThe crypto industry should use this pause to resolve any remaining differences. Now is the time to set the rules of the road and secure the future of this industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galaxy Digitall\u2019s CEO Mike Novogratz struck a more optimistic tone, saying: \u201cWhile the crypto bill might be delayed to keep working on it, I am very confident that a bill will get done soon. I have spoken to over 10 senators on both sides of the aisle in the past 24 hrs and I believe they all are working in good faith to get something done. Always gets tense at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $3.22 trillion.<\/p>\n

\"Total<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate Banking Committee has pulled the scheduled Thursday markup of its crypto asset market structure bill after a late-stage flare-up with Coinbase, freezing what had looked like a tightening path toward action. The pause lands at a sensitive moment for Washington\u2019s crypto negotiations: industry heavyweights are publicly splitting over the Senate draft even as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-67850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}