The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee has released a version of the cryptocurrency market structure bill, but there are still differences in the legislative process

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, John Boozman, officially unveiled the committee's version of the cryptocurrency market structure legislation on Thursday. Although the bill has made some progress on decentralized finance (DeFi) related issues, Boozman pointed out that there are still differences between the two parties on "fundamental policy issues," and formal legislation is still some distance away.

Sources indicate that the Democratic opposition to the bill stems more from political differences, including concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving Trump and his family's involvement in cryptocurrency projects, as well as worries about insufficient consumer protection. According to legislative procedures, the bill requires bipartisan support to pass in the Senate, needing at least 60 votes, which means that in addition to full support from Republican senators, it must also secure at least 7 Democratic senators.

Both the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Banking Committee need to hold markups and votes on their respective versions, with the Agriculture Committee's markup expected to take place next week. However, progress in the Senate Banking Committee has stalled. Previously, the markup was postponed due to Coinbase withdrawing its support, with contentious issues including tokenized stocks, the regulatory division of DeFi, the boundaries of SEC and CFTC responsibilities, and stablecoin incentive mechanisms. Bloomberg reported that the Banking Committee may delay the legislative process by several weeks to prioritize housing and affordability issues.