Senator Tillis Plans to Force Banking Committee Action on Delayed Cryptocurrency Legislation
GOP Senator Thom Tillis indicates the Senate's CLARITY Act version has achieved significant advancement and believes it's now appropriate for congressional members to proceed with a vote on the legislation.
Senator Thom Tillis of the United States announced his intention to urge the Senate Banking Committee to move forward with the cryptocurrency market structure legislation that has experienced significant delays, stating that the bill's language has evolved sufficiently and is prepared for another committee vote.
Speaking with members of the press on Wednesday, Tillis, who serves as a prominent Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, indicated he would request that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott "to move forward with scheduling a markup" once the Senate reconvenes on May 11.
"I think that we've made a lot of progress. But at the end of the day, until you have a forcing mechanism of a markup, everybody that really doesn't want it done is going to have one more thing that they want to talk about, and I think it's time to get it before the committee, move it forward."
The cryptocurrency market structure legislation being developed in the Senate would establish the framework for how the nation's two primary financial market regulatory agencies would supervise the crypto industry. The House of Representatives successfully passed its own iteration of the legislation, known as the CLARITY Act, in July, however the Senate's corresponding version has experienced numerous setbacks as both legislators and advocacy groups have attempted to modify various sections.
In January, the Senate Banking Committee postponed the markup session for the bill following the decision by Coinbase, a prominent cryptocurrency lobbying organization, to withdraw its endorsement due to a specific clause that would prohibit cryptocurrency exchanges from offering yields on stablecoins.
Lobbying groups representing banking interests have campaigned vigorously to retain this provision within the proposed legislation, maintaining that preventing third-party entities from distributing stablecoin yields effectively eliminates a suspected regulatory gap in the GENIUS Act, which already forbids stablecoin issuers from distributing yield.
"I believe we've heard the concerns [and] addressed a lot of the concerns of the bank. There may be a few more that we can get there if they want to come and work in good faith; otherwise, I'm going to encourage the chair to move forward with the markup."
Senator Tillis further stated that his goal was to make the legislative text available to the public no less than four days prior to the markup session, following an advance review by stakeholders from both the cryptocurrency and banking sectors.
Additional clauses that remain contentious within the bill, which senators have been actively working to address, relate to ethical standards and safeguards for software developers.
According to a Tuesday report from Politico, Tillis stated that the cryptocurrency legislation would "need to address the law enforcement concerns" surrounding a clause designed to shield cryptocurrency software developers from legal prosecution in cases where other individuals engage in unlawful activities using their platforms.
During Wednesday's conversation with reporters, Tillis expressed that he was "generally in support" of the advancements Senator Cynthia Lummis had achieved regarding this particular provision.
Earlier in the week on Monday, Tillis endorsed a requirement that has gained traction among Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee, declaring he would oppose the bill unless it incorporated ethics-related provisions that establish limitations on how government officials can utilize and advocate for cryptocurrency.
"There has to be ethics language in the bill before it leaves the Senate, or I'll go from one of the people working on negotiating it to voting against it."