Overview
- Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott said both the Banking and Agriculture panels plan to mark up digital asset market-structure legislation next month, targeting a Senate floor vote early next year.
- The Senate Agriculture discussion draft would give the CFTC primary authority over spot digital commodity markets, define digital commodities, and create new registration categories with safeguards such as fund segregation, disclosures, and limits on affiliated trading.
- Key sections remain unfinished, with lawmakers still negotiating language on decentralized finance, anti–money-laundering requirements, and the treatment of developers.
- The draft empowers the CFTC to levy annual fees and contemplates initial implementation funding of about $150 million, as questions persist about the agency’s staffing and capacity.
- Industry leaders are engaging heavily, with Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong expressing optimism about December progress, while CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham signaled expectations for spot trading on designated contract markets by year-end.