With the longest US government shutdown in the country’s history now over, some lawmakers have turned their attention to passing a digital asset market structure bill that could become a defining issue for many voters in the 2026 midterm elections.
The US Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee have released discussion drafts for their versions of the market structure bill, building on the CLARITY Act passed by the House of Representatives in July. Although the current session of Congress will last until January 2027, lawmakers may have a limited window to pass the bill, known as the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, amid the holiday season and as campaigns for the midterm elections begin.
“Going into 2026, market structure is still [the] number one priority for everybody,” Mason Lynaugh, community director of Stand With Crypto, told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Market structure is still that shining objective that we’ve been trying to get, and going into 2026, that’s 100% the most important thing. Whoever votes for that, against that, it’s going to be a huge deal [...]”
Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican leader on the Senate Banking Committee, said in August that the bill would be out of both the banking and agriculture committees by November and become law by 2026. However, the shutdown and opposition from several Democrats could alter this timeline.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who sits on the banking committee, reportedly said that lawmakers should act “by the first part of January, February” to get the crypto bill passed, citing concerns about the midterms. The next federal elections, according to Tillis, could hamper progress on crypto legislation.
Crypto Industry's Growing Influence in Elections
Similar to 2024, with its support of candidates publicly favoring pro-crypto policies and laws, cryptocurrency industry-backed political action committees and advocacy organizations, such as Stand With Crypto, could influence how Americans vote in 2026.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 seats in the Senate will be up for grabs in 2026. Last year, Stand With Crypto reported that 274 candidates considered to be “pro-crypto” based on their public statements and voting records won election or reelection, making up a significant portion of Congress.
Mikie Sherrill, a member of the US House of Representatives, won her election as a Democratic candidate in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race on Nov. 4 by about 450,000 votes. According to a Stand With Crypto survey conducted in June — about five months before the election — more than half of a group of 1,000 New Jersey voters said that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate supporting pro-crypto policies.
“The big thing that scored [Sherrill] was that she voted for the crypto bills that went through the House this year,” said Lynaugh, referring to Stand With Crypto’s system of ranking candidates for their positions on digital assets. Sherrill voted for market structure and the GENIUS stablecoin bill in the House.
Whether crypto voters will consider lawmakers’ records on market structure as they head to the ballot boxes in November 2026 remains to be seen. As of Monday, neither the Senate Banking Committee nor the Agriculture Committee had scheduled a vote to consider the bill, needed to set the groundwork for a full floor vote.