Crypto Industry and Senate Democrats to Plan Call on Stalled Crypto Bill

Efforts are reportedly under way to restart the movement of the crypto markets bill that stalled in the Senate on Wednesday (Jan. 14).

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who withdrew the cryptocurrency exchange’s support for the Senate Banking Committee’s draft of the bill hours before the committee postponed its scheduled markup of the bill, reportedly met in person with lawmakers at the Capitol on Thursday (Jan. 15) to lobby for changes.

Armstrong sought to ensure that the legislation would allow Coinbase to continue paying rewards to customers who hold stablecoins on its platform, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

He told reporters at the Capitol that proposed limitations on these sorts of rewards were “maybe the biggest” of his concerns with the bill, though there are others, and that it seemed “risky” to move ahead with the bill if it could be amended to ban the rewards, according to the report.

CoinDesk reported Thursday that representatives of the crypto industry and Senate Democrats have planned a call for Friday (Jan. 16) in which they will discuss the status of the bill.

Democrats from both the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee will participate in the call, according to the report.

Stablecoin rewards programs are likely to be at the top of the agenda of the call, as Democrats, Republicans and lobbyists from the banking and crypto industries have been trying to negotiate an agreement on that issue, per the report.

The Senate Banking Committee released its draft of the bill late Monday (Jan. 12) and planned to hold a markup meeting on Thursday.

However, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott of South Carolina postponed the markup Wednesday, saying bipartisan negotiations would continue.

Scott announced the postponement on X about five hours after Armstrong said on the same social media platform that Coinbase had withdrawn its support for the bill.

Armstrong outlined his objections to the committee’s draft of the market structure bill in his post on X, noting that they included draft amendments that would eliminate rewards on stablecoins.

PYMNTS reported Thursday that banks have lobbied against crypto offerings that resemble deposit products, especially stablecoin rewards that, in their view, compete against regulated interest accounts.