Bitcoin Magazine
U.S. Treasury Secretary Presses Senate to Pass Crypto Market Structure Legislation
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a Senate panel Wednesday that passing comprehensive crypto legislation is essential to securing U.S. financial leadership and protecting the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency, using an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government to amplify a push for legislation that has stalled on Capitol Hill for months.
Bessent testified at a hearing reviewing President Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request for the Department of the Treasury. During the session, a senator on the Agriculture Committee raised Bessent’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed on crypto policy, noting support for the market structure bill that cleared the Agriculture panel in January.
“When the United States leads in best practices, safety and soundness in the financial world — whether it’s our banking system, our securities, or now digital assets — it’s important for the U.S. to lead,” Bessent said.
He framed U.S. leadership in digital assets as both an economic and national security imperative, arguing it would reinforce the primacy of the dollar as the global reserve currency and bring cryptocurrency activity under domestic anti-money laundering and know-your-customer frameworks.
JUST IN: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells the Senate we need to pass Bitcoin & crypto market structure legislation.”The US has to lead here. We’re the technological leader in the world, we should be the payments leader in the world.” pic.twitter.com/1hlfrYeToY— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) April 22, 2026
Bessent also characterized digital assets as a critical payments technology, calling blockchain a “payment rail” where American dominance is achievable and necessary. “We are the technological leader in the world. We should be the payments leader in the world,” he said during the hearing.
Where current crypto legislation stands
The road to a comprehensive crypto market structure law remains fractured. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — commonly known as the CLARITY Act — passed the House in July 2025 by a 294-134 vote and was referred to the Senate Banking Committee that September.
Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its own version, the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act, in a party-line vote of 12-11 in January 2026. That bill would expand the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s authority to regulate digital commodity spot markets.
The two chambers’ versions must ultimately be reconciled before a final bill can reach the president’s desk. The Senate Banking Committee has not yet scheduled its markup, having delayed action while focused on housing legislation. The senator in the hearing acknowledged ongoing work to ensure the CFTC is fully constituted and adequately resourced
