Bitcoin Magazine
Crypto Market Structure Bill Advances Through Senate Agriculture Committee, No Democrats Vote In Favor
In a narrowly divided party-line vote, The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version of crypto market legislation in a 12-11 vote Thursday, marking a milestone in congressional efforts to finally legislate comprehensive crypto market structure rules.
All Democrats on the committee opposed the motion, citing substantive disagreements over ethics provisions, consumer protections, and the independence of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Chairman Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) opened the markup by touting months of negotiations and “substantive, cordial conversations,” but acknowledged that “fundamental policy disagreements” remain.
“Now it’s time to move this process forward,” Boozman said, emphasizing the need to flesh out a regulatory regime for digital commodity intermediaries — including exchanges, brokers, dealers, and custodians — under the CFTC’s oversight.
This discussion emerged from the Agriculture Committee’s updated legislative text released on January 21, which builds on a bipartisan discussion draft issued in November and on the House-passed Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act of 2025.
The legislation aims to finally settle long-standing questions about how digital assets should be regulated in the U.S. by giving the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over spot markets for “digital commodities,” while leaving securities-related digital assets under the Securities and Exchange Commission.
JUST IN: Senate Agriculture Committee PASSES Bitcoin and crypto market structure legislation out of committee. pic.twitter.com/6KB2uzbfQe— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) January 29, 2026
Bipartisan crypto aspirations clearly undercut committee discussions
While initial versions of the Agriculture Committee’s language were released jointly by Boozman and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Thursday’s markup showed some fractures along party lines.
Booker reminded colleagues that the bipartisan November draft represented “one of my better experiences in the Senate,” but argued that Republicans abandoned the bipartisan process after the Christmas recess.
“To be clear, the product before us today is not the bipartisan draft that we were working on,” Booker said.
Ranking Member Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) indicated that Democrats support “the progress that has been made,” but stressed that key issues remain unresolved — particularly ethics safeguards for public officials and stronger consumer protections.
Failed Democrat amendments
Several Democrat-led amendments failed on the committee floor. An ethics-focused amendment that would have barred the President, Vice President, federal elected officials, and certain family members from profiting off crypto while in office — and required covered assets to be placed in bli
