US Treasury Secretary Urges Congress To Pass Crypto Market Structure Bill This Spring

The US Secretary of the Treasury has called for the passage of the long-awaited crypto market structure bill this spring to provide reassurance to the industry amid recent market volatility.

Bessent Calls For Crypto Market Structure Bill

On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the US lawmakers to pass the stalled crypto market structure bill soon, highlighting the importance of getting the legislation on President Donald Trump’s desk before the end of the spring legislative window.

In a CNBC interview, Bessent affirmed that part of the recent market volatility was “self-induced” due to the reaction of some industry participants to the bill. He affirmed that some digital assets firms have been blocking it, which hasn’t been “good for the overall crypto community.”

Notably, the long-awaited CLARITY Act has been stalled for nearly a month after the Senate Banking Committee published its bill draft. The legislation was heavily criticized by crypto industry leaders, who slammed multiple of its policies, including key restrictions for stablecoin issuers.

The Treasury Secretary considers that passing the bill would “give great comfort” to the market at a time of significant volatility. Moreover, he pointed out that there’s a bipartisan working group trying to advance the legislation, with democrats “that want to work with republicans on getting a market structure bill.”

However, Bessent noted that the chances of getting a deal done could fall apart if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in November, highlighting the Biden administration’s crackdown on the industry.

“There’s a lot of innovation that goes on adjacent to crypto, the blockchain, and DeFi. So, I think it’s important to get this clarity bill done as soon as possible and on the president’s desk this spring,” he concluded.

‘More Work To Be Done’

Similarly, Patrick Witt, executive director of the US President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, discussed the progress on the crypto market structure bill on Friday.

Speaking with Yahoo Finance, Witt stated, “We are working hard to address the issues that were raised that led to the postponement of that markup and hopefully get that back on the book soon.”

He highlighted that lawmakers were able to pass the Senate Agriculture Committee’s half of the CLARITY Act, which handles the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s portion of the bill.

The Crypto Council’s executive director outlined that once the Senate Banking Committee’s portion of the bill is passed, the two pieces of legislation will need to be reconciled before a final vote on the Senate floor. “So, more work to be done, but we are a step closer with the passage of the Ag portion of this a couple of weeks ago,” he said.

Discussing who must bend to advance the bill, Witt affirmed that both sides would have to compromise. “It’s unfortunate that this has become such a big issue, because ultimately, this is not the stablecoin bill that was the GENIUS Act,” he said.

“What we’ve encouraged both sides to do is find a middle ground. Let’s use a scalpel heel here to address this narrow issue of idle yield (…). But let’s not take a chainsaw out of this; let’s not let this derail the bill. There is so much goodness in this bill, no matter what your perspective is,” Witt continued.

He listed some of the “excellent measures” proposed in the bill, including the clear line between the SEC and the CFTC, regulatory jurisdiction, and developer protections, which he considers to be “critical to future-proof this industry from a future Gary Gensler or, God forbid, a Secretary of the Treasury Elizabeth Warren.”

Lastly, he shared that the White House might host another meeting between the banking and crypto industry to discuss the payment of stablecoin rewards.