Senate Committee unveils crypto market structure bill draft

The US Senate Agriculture Committee has released its long-awaited discussion draft of crypto market structure laws, bringing Congress closer to passing legislation outlining how the crypto sector will be regulated.

Republican Agriculture Chair John Boozman and Democrat Senator Cory Booker released the draft on Monday, which includes brackets around sections of the bill that lawmakers are still negotiating.

The bill aims to outline the limits of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s power to regulate crypto. Only Congress can set the agencies’ regulatory boundaries, but both have shared guidance to companies about crypto under the Trump administration’s deregulation push.

“The CFTC is the right agency to regulate spot digital commodity trading, and it is essential to establish clear rules for the emerging crypto market while also protecting consumers,” Boozman said.

Booker said the discussion draft “would provide the CFTC with new authority to regulate the digital commodity spot market, create new protections for retail customers, and ensure the agency has the personnel and resources necessary to oversee this growing market.”

The House passed a similar bill, called the CLARITY Act, to the Senate in July, which would give the CFTC a central role in regulating crypto.