Primary Goal for 2026 is Crypto Market Structure

In a year in which the United States will hold elections that could upset the balance of power in Congress, a cryptocurrency advocacy organization backed by Coinbase said its first priority is to “help get federal digital asset market structure legislation signed into law.”

In its year-in-review report released on Thursday, Stand With Crypto (SWC) said it had added 675,000 people across the US to its advocacy efforts, bringing its total to 2.6 million.

Though SWC said it would continue to mobilize its members “to support pro-crypto candidates in the congressional races” as part of the 2026 midterm elections in the US, its “primary goal” was helping the digital asset market structure bill get through Congress.

The bill, called the Responsible Financial Innovation Act (RFIA) in the Senate, is headed for a markup in the banking committee next week. Lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee, drafting their own version of the bill, are also expected to schedule a markup in the near future. 

Market structure for digital assets, if signed into law, is expected to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation impacting the crypto industry since its creation in 2009.

The CLARITY Act, which is the version of market structure passed by the US House of Representatives in July, and drafts of the RFIA showed that the bill could give the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission more authority in regulating digital assets. 

Related: If history repeats itself, will the US Congress become more pro-crypto in 2026?

Mason Lynaugh, Stand With Crypto’s community director, told Cointelegraph in November that how lawmakers vote on the market structure bill could impact their reelection bids in 2026. All 435 seats in the House and 33 seats in the Senate are up for grabs, potentially allowing Democrats to regain majority control from the Republicans.

Representatives from crypto companies gathering on Capitol Hill on Thursday

Another advocacy group for crypto and blockchain, The Digital Chamber, announced that it would be facilitating talks between members of Congress and industry representatives on Thursday ahead of the markup for the market structure bill.

Some experts are still concerned that a potential government shutdown at the end of January could slow progress on the bill.

In October, US lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a funding bill, shutting down many federal agencies and furloughing workers for 43 days, the longest in the country’s history. The event likely slowed progress on the market structure bill in the Senate after some Republican leaders predicted it would be signed into law by 2026.

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