US Senate Republicans release draft bill for crypto market structure

Republican leaders on the US Senate Banking Committee have released their version of legislation for a digital asset market structure, suggesting they may be combining their efforts with a bill passed in the House of Representatives.

In a Tuesday notice, four Republican senators, including banking committee chair Tim Scott and digital assets subcommittee chair Cynthia Lummis, a discussion draft of crypto market structure legislation.

According to lawmakers, the tentatively titled Responsible Financial Innovation Act “builds on” the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which was on July 17.

“My colleagues in the House and Senate and I share the same goal: provide clear rules of the road for digital assets,” said Scott. 

Though Republicans in the House pushed through three crypto bills with bipartisan support last week, only the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act had passed through both chambers and was able to be by US President Donald Trump.

Scott and Lummis said in June that they planned to have the market structure bill before October.

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Both chambers’ versions of the crypto market structure legislation proposed amending disclosure requirements under the Securities Act of 1933, implying that existing laws were unsuitable for regulating modern investment vehicles such as digital assets. 

The CLARITY Act to allow for more collaboration between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in establishing rules for digital asset transactions.

The Senate’s draft bill also included amendments related to disclosures of “ancillary assets,” which lawmakers said applied to digital assets that were not considered securities. 

“With bipartisan backing, the CLARITY Act heading to the Senate signals increasing momentum behind comprehensive crypto policy and growing alignment on the need for market structure rules, even if full passage may take longer as Congress breaks for the summer,” said Liat Shetre, Elliptic’s vice president of global policy and regulation, in a statement shared with Cointelegraph.

It’s unclear whether the draft bill will have enough support to pass in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority over Democrats.

More than 70 House Democrats sided with Republicans to pass the CLARITY Act, but any change to the wording of the bill could spark debates or pushback in a heated Congress.

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