Senate Agriculture panel delays market structure hearing after winter storm

The Senate Agriculture Committee has postponed its markup hearing on crypto market structure from Tuesday to Thursday due to the winter storm that hit much of the US over the weekend.

A once-in-a-decade winter storm struck the East Coast and much of the eastern half of the country over the weekend, canceling flights and changing the Senate’s schedule. The committee intended to let lawmakers debate amendments and vote on its version of the bill.

The bill aims to define the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s oversight of crypto markets. The Agriculture Committee was expected to produce a more bipartisan effort that would prove less contentious than the Banking Committee draft.

Industry backs crypto bill text, opposes Credit Card Competition Act

The first sign of trouble came earlier last week, when several people said they feared the bill would be partisan; only Republican committee members are publicly supporting it. This risked its passage through the Senate.

Committee Chair John Boozman also said in a statement last week that he and his negotiating counterpart, Democratic Senator Cory Booker, were unable to reach an agreement on the text due to “fundamental differences in policy.”

Late Friday, Democrats and a few Republicans filed several proposed amendments to be debated on Tuesday, Cryptopolitan reported. They included the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) from Sens. Roger Marshall, Dick Durbin, and Peter Welch. 

The law would require large banks to allow at least 2 unaffiliated networks, in addition to Visa and Mastercard, on credit cards, giving merchants more choice in how transactions are processed. 

The amendments also demanded provisions requiring ethics commitments from senior government officials and strong language requiring regulatory agencies to be helmed by bipartisan commissions.

The industry itself has been largely supportive of the latest text, released last Wednesday. They praised it for protecting non-custodial software developers and infrastructure providers by limiting control to intermediaries rather than protocols or users.

However, they worry that attaching an unrelated piece of legislation, such as CCCA, to an already complex bill could make members less likely to support it.

The Senate Banking Committee, which also needs to pass market structure legislation, postponed its own hearing on its version of the bill earlier this month. According to reports, the White House and committee members wanted the crypto industry and the banking lobby to resolve their stablecoin yield issues before they pick the effort back up.

However, unlike the Agriculture Committee, it has not yet set a new date. The SEC and CFTC also postponed a planned joint press appearance planned for Tuesday to Thursday at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The US government will run out of funding on Friday. The House of Representatives rushed a funding package through on Thursday and sent it to the Senate, but the Senate still needs to vote on this package before the deadline.

Benchmark warns that US crypto valuations are at risk

Benchmark, a Wall Street brokerage firm, has warned that failure to pass a comprehensive crypto market structure bill could limit US crypto valuations. The absence of clear regulatory frameworks is expected to maintain a regulatory risk premium, which could favor Bitcoin-centric investments, robust balance sheets, and cash flow-generating infrastructure.

However, this situation may leave exchanges, altcoins, and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms facing structural constraints due to their sensitivity to regulatory changes. According to analysts, DeFi and smart contract platforms are particularly vulnerable, whereas Bitcoin, miners, and energy-supported infrastructure face less risk.

Meanwhile, the crypto market is steady, with a 0.13% gain to a market cap of $2.96 trillion. However, the fear and greed index has been constrained at 29, which is in fear territory.

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