A key Senate vote on long-awaited cryptocurrency market structure legislation could be delayed as bipartisan negotiations gain momentum, according to a report.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas, is currently scheduled to advance the legislation in a committee markup on January 15.
What Happened
However, he is now open to pushing that timeline back if negotiations with Democrats yield meaningful progress in the coming days, according to multiple sources granted anonymity to discuss private talks, according to Politico.
Those discussions are centered on Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, the lead Democratic negotiator on the Agriculture Committee for the bill.
If talks over the weekend result in substantive agreements, Boozman could opt to delay the markup to lock in broader bipartisan backing rather than proceed on a party-line basis.
Despite that openness, Boozman said earlier Thursday that he still intends to move forward with a vote next week regardless of whether bipartisan consensus has been reached.
He and Booker met in person on Thursday, one source said, as both sides continue to test the limits of compromise.
A spokesperson for Boozman said the chairman remains focused on advancing a bipartisan framework but emphasized that the official schedule has not yet changed.
Booker, for his part, struck an optimistic tone, saying conversations remain active and expressing hope that a deal can be reached.
The legislative timing is complicated by parallel action in the Senate Banking Committee, which is also planning to mark up its portion of the crypto market structure bill on January 15.
While the Agriculture Committee oversees provisions related to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Banking Committee controls the sections governing the Securities and Exchange Commission, making coordination between the two panels critical.
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Why It Matters
The push to move legislation this month has also been reinforced by the White House.
Administration officials, including crypto and artificial intelligence policy lead David Sacks, have encouraged congressional committees to advance markups in January, reflecting growing executive branch urgency to establish clearer regulatory guardrails for digital asset markets.
The timing debate reflects a broader tension that has surfaced repeatedly in recent months, including whether lawmakers should prioritize speed to provide regulatory certainty for markets, or slow the process to ensure durable bipartisan support.
That tension has become more pronounced as crypto markets have matured and institutional participation has increased, including through spot exchange-traded products and expanded involvement by traditional financial firms, developments that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle increasingly cite as justification for clearer market structure rules.
Industry participants have warned that prolonged uncertainty over agency jurisdiction and compliance obligations risks pushing innovation offshore, while regulators have stressed the need for strong consumer protections following high-profile market failures.
The outcome of Boozman’s decision, whether to press ahead or pause, may determine whether this legislative effort advances as a bipartisan framework or becomes another stalled attempt at comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation.
For now, the January 15 date remains on the calendar.
But with negotiations still underway, the final timing and tone of the markup remains unsettled.