US Senator Lummis: Crypto market structure bill will be law by 2026

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the Republicans leading the charge in support of legislation for digital asset market structure, has said a bill will end up on US President Donald Trump’s desk “before the end of the year.”

Speaking at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Jackson Hole on Wednesday, Lummis said Republicans’ goals included having a market structure bill passed through the Senate Banking Committee by the end of September, followed by consideration in the Senate Agriculture Committee in October.

Both committees will address how the US financial regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, handle digital assets.

“We will have market structure to the president’s desk before the end of the year,” said Lummis. “I hope it’s before Thanksgiving.”

Republicans’ plans to pass market structure in the Senate followed the US House of Representatives approving the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act in July, with 78 Democrats voting for the bill. Lummis and other Senate Republicans suggested their version of the legislation, tentatively titled the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, would “build on” the CLARITY Act. 

“We [...] want to honor as much of the House’s work as we can on CLARITY because they had a robust bipartisan vote,” said Lummis on Wednesday. “And we don’t want to disrupt that very much. So we’re going to use the CLARITY Act as the base bill [...] CLARITY will probably end up being what passes, but CLARITY as tweaked by the Senate.”

Lummis’ remarks echoed those of Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, who spoke at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium on Tuesday. The South Carolina senator speculated that “between 12 and 18 Democrats [were] at least open to voting for market structure” once the Senate committees sent the bill for a floor vote. 

Senate to also consider CBDC bill

The CLARITY Act was one of three pieces of legislation passed by the House in July as part of Republicans’ “crypto week” plans. In addition to the market structure bill, the House approved the GENIUS Act to regulate payment stablecoins and the Anti-CBDC [Central Bank Digital Currency] Surveillance State Act.

The GENIUS Act, having already been passed by the Senate, was signed into law by Trump the following day. However, the anti-CBDC bill received the least amount of support among the three bills from House Democrats — only two “yays” out of all 212 members present.

Lummis and other Republican senators in the majority have signaled their intention to first focus on market structure, suggesting that any bill to regulate CBDCs could be delayed into 2026.