PANews reported on January 21 that, according to Crypto in America, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to release the text of its latest cryptocurrency market structure bill before the end of the day, in preparation for its committee review meeting next Tuesday. This release will reveal key points of consensus reached by both parties after two weeks of additional negotiations. Major points of contention in the bill include whether memes should be included in the definition of "digital goods," overall listing standards, the classification of different tokens, regulatory funding from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and ethical provisions. A strong bipartisan agreement by the Agriculture Committee could pave the way for similar legislation by the Senate Banking Committee.
On the other hand, the Banking Committee's deliberations, postponed since last week, have yet to set a new date. The pressure is currently primarily on Coinbase, whose sudden withdrawal of support for the bill caused the deliberations to halt. Now, a consensus needs to be reached with the banking industry on stablecoin yield terms to bring all parties back to the negotiating table. The executive director of the White House Cryptocurrency Council hinted on social media that delaying legislation could invite harsher regulation from a future government that is less friendly to cryptocurrencies.


