Senate Ag Committee’s sweeping crypto market structure bill faces ethics amendment ahead of next week’s hearing

The Senate Agriculture Committee is preparing for a markup next Tuesday to debate and vote on a comprehensive cryptocurrency market structure bill. Ahead of this session, several amendments were filed, most notably the "Digital Asset Ethics Act" proposed by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). This amendment aims to ban "covered individuals," including the President, Vice President, and lawmakers, from engaging in specific digital asset transactions, seemingly addressing concerns over Donald Trump's reported $1.4 billion earnings from crypto ventures. Other amendments include provisions to prevent fake transactions at digital asset kiosks and a measure by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to delay the bill's effectiveness until the CFTC has at least four commissioners appointed, addressing current staffing shortages. The bill's progress relies on bipartisan support, as 60 votes are needed in the Senate. This committee is seen as more capable of collaboration compared to the Senate Banking Committee, which recently stalled its own crypto bill after Coinbase withdrew support over disagreements regarding tokenized equities and DeFi.

(Source：The Block)