The US Senate Agriculture Committee released a Republican draft of the market structure bill, which includes protections for crypto developers, setting it up for a markup next week.
US Senate Agriculture chair John Boozman says the panel’s Republicans are yet to find middle ground with Democrats on several “fundamental policy issues” related to crypto market structure legislation.
Boozman’s comments came as the Senate panel released a Republican draft of the bill on Wednesday, ahead of a scheduled markup on Tuesday, Jan. 27, which did not have the support of the committee’s Democrats.
“While differences remain on fundamental policy issues, this bill builds on our bipartisan discussion draft while incorporating input from stakeholders and represents months of work,” said Boozman.
“Although it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t reach an agreement, I am grateful for the collaboration that has made this legislation better. It’s time we move this bill, and I look forward to the markup next week.”
The bill aims to create a framework for how crypto markets will be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Republican bill includes crypto dev protections
Crypto attorney James Murphy, known online as “MetaLawMan,” explained that the bill “creates a path for DeFi to steer clear of CFTC regulation.”
It provides protection for DeFi software developers and certain service providers from liability under CFTC rules and regulations, he said.
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The bill also omits any regulation of stablecoin yield, as that fits under the jurisdiction of the Banking Committee, Murphy explained.
Lawyer at Ethereum software solutions provider, Consensys, Bill Hughes, elaborated:
“In sum, the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act: Does not regulate self-custody wallets, Does not regulate non-custodial DeFi interfaces, Regulates any platform that takes custody or controls execution, and Focuses squarely on intermediaries, not protocols or users.”
The release of the draft bill comes amid reports of a potential delay to the Senate Banking Committee’s version of the crypto market structure bill to February or March.
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