SKN | Senate Agriculture Committee Unveils Draft Crypto Market Structure Bill Amid Shutdown and Regulatory Tug-of-War

3 Key Points:

• The Senate Agriculture Committee released a draft crypto market structure bill, moving closer to establishing clear federal oversight between the CFTC and SEC.

• The draft mirrors the House’s Clarity Act, but still includes bracketed sections signaling unresolved jurisdictional disputes and DeFi provisions.

• Progress may stall as the Senate faces budget-related shutdown delays, with final legislation potentially months away from a vote.

By SKN News

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee has released its long-awaited draft legislation to define the structure of cryptocurrency market oversight, marking a key step toward clarifying the roles of federal regulators and aligning with the House of Representatives’ Clarity Act.

The bill, published Monday and led by Chairman John Boozeman (R-Ark.) and Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), seeks to establish how the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will regulate crypto spot markets and coordinate with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on oversight and enforcement.

While the document still includes bracketed sections indicating unresolved policy debates it represents the first tangible step in months toward a bipartisan framework that could bring order to the fragmented U.S. crypto regulatory landscape.
“This draft begins to answer the question only Congress can resolve: where one regulator’s jurisdiction ends and the other’s begins,” one Senate staffer familiar with the process told SKN News.

CFTC SEC Coordination at the Core

The proposed bill explicitly directs the CFTC and SEC to engage in joint rulemaking for critical areas, including portfolio margining, intermediary supervision, and custodial responsibilities for digital assets.

It also defines key terms such as “blockchain” and “digital commodity” within the Commodity Exchange Act, giving the CFTC the legal foundation to oversee non-security crypto assets like Bitcoin.

Still, several open questions remain. One bracketed section notes that Senate Democrats question whether the Agriculture Committee alone has sufficient jurisdiction to legislate portions of the framework, calling for closer coordination with the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the SEC.

Another unresolved clause would require that at least two CFTC commissioners be drawn from the minority party, ensuring balanced governance. Currently, the CFTC operates under Acting Chair Caroline Pham, with Trump nominee Mike Selig awaiting Senate confirmation to lead the agency.

DeFi Developers Seek Clarity

The DeFi community remains watchful as the draft leaves open a section labeled “Decentralized Finance,” signaling lawmakers have yet to decide how to treat protocols without centralized custody.

Amanda Tuminelli, Executive Director of the DeFi Education Fund, urged lawmakers to include “robust developer protections” to ensure coders and open-source contributors are not treated as financial intermediaries.
“We’re hoping the section left open for DeFi will clearly distinguish centralized platforms from developers without custody or control of user funds,” Tuminelli said.

Earlier proposals reportedly included onerous requirements that DeFi industry groups said could have criminalized software development and driven innovation offshore, derailing progress before recent negotiations revived the talks.

Shutdown Delays and Legislative Fatigue

The Agriculture Committee’s release comes amid broader government paralysis. The 38-day federal shutdown has drained Senate resources, diverting attention to budget negotiations and further delaying committee markups.

Senate staffers told CoinDesk that teams worked “through the weekend” to finalize the draft even as lawmakers scrambled to pass a continuing resolution to reopen the government.
“The bandwidth to move this forward is extremely limited right now,” said Ron Hammond, head of policy at Wintermute. “Best-case scenario, we’re still looking at months before the committees advance the bill to the floor.”

Political divisions persist as well. While Republicans have sought to accelerate the legislative process under pressure from the Trump administration, some Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, remain staunch critics of the crypto industry, citing national security and consumer protection risks.

Industry Outlook: Cautious Optimism

Despite the slow pace, crypto industry groups are cautiously optimistic. The Agriculture Committee’s effort paired with the Banking Committee’s ongoing drafts is seen as a necessary foundation for eventual Senate reconciliation and a unified market structure bill.

Cody Carbone, CEO of the Digital Chamber, said the latest draft “shows that lawmakers are serious about giving the CFTC a formalized role over crypto spot markets.”
“Defining this split between the SEC and CFTC is the linchpin of U.S. crypto regulation,” Carbone told SKN News. “It’s been a decade of ambiguity. Even a partial framework would be a milestone.”

Yet, with budget negotiations ongoing, Senate scheduling strained, and partisan disagreements deepening, few expect a final version before early 2026.

The Road Ahead

The Agriculture and Banking Committees must now harmonize their respective drafts before the bill can advance to the full Senate. Once approved, the combined version would still need to be reconciled with the House’s Clarity Act, which passed in July.

Even then, passage is far from guaranteed. Lawmakers will need to navigate competing priorities from government funding to judicial confirmations before crypto legislation earns meaningful floor time.

For now, the release of the draft marks a symbolic but significant step toward ending the decade-long uncertainty over U.S. crypto oversight.

As Hammond put it:
“Progress is slow, but for the first time in years, it feels like movement however incremental is actually happening.”