Sen. Moreno calls crypto bill talks ‘decently frustrating’ as Senate races toward year-end goal posts

Negotiations on a bill to regulate the cryptocurrency industry at large have been "decently frustrating" over the past few weeks, Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno said, as Democrats and Republicans are set to meet on Tuesday.

Despite passing a law regulating stablecoins this summer, U.S. lawmakers have faced roadblocks on a more comprehensive bill for crypto market structure — essentially clarifying jurisdiction between agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and passing consumer protections.

On Monday at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit in Washington D.C., Moreno shed light on ongoing discussions on what should be included in that larger bill. 

"What I don't want to do is promulgate a bad bill just to say that we passed something," Moreno said, adding, "no deal is better than a bad deal." 

Moreno plans to meet with Democrats on Tuesday morning. "We'll see where their heads are at, but it's been decently frustrating in the last couple weeks," he said.

Different drafts

The two legislative chambers, the House and Senate, have different versions of a market structure bill that still need to be sorted.

The House passed its version of a bill to regulate the crypto industry in July, called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or Clarity for short. And while the Senate's proposals are not drastically different, passing bills is generally harder in the Senate than in the House.

Moreno sits on the Senate Banking Committee, a pivotal panel drafting its own version of a crypto market structure bill. The committee, led by Republicans, has a draft that looks to allocate jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC, as well as create a new term for "ancillary assets" to clarify which cryptocurrencies are not securities. 

The Senate Banking Committee has to work alongside the Senate Agriculture Committee, which released draft legislation last month that would give new authority to the CFTC. 

Both bills would need to go through a process to make changes to the bill and ultimately vote on it during congressional hearings.

Christmas reconciliation?

Last week, in audio obtained by The Block, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., told partygoers at an event called "Crypto Christmas" that there is a "realistic path" to have that committee markup hearing on Dec. 17 or 18. 

However, on Monday, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told Crypto In America's Eleanor Terrett that getting a markup hearing done before the holidays would be difficult and that they are waiting on White House language around quorum and ethics. Warner is also a member of the Senate Banking Committee. Crypto In America earlier reported news on the timing of the markup. 

Other issues have arisen with the bill, including language around stablecoin yield with banks and the crypto industry taking two separate stances and how decentralized finance should be regulated, Variant Fund Chief Legal Officer Jake Chervinsky said last week.

Many Democrats have also voiced concerns about President Donald Trump's conflicts of interest, adding to the difficulties around passing crypto legislation. Bloomberg estimated in July that the sitting president has profited some $620 million from his family's crypto ventures, including the World Liberty Financial DeFi and stablecoin project, which lists Trump and his three sons as co-founders. The family also has a 20% stake in the mining firm American Bitcoin, and legislators have repeatedly raised concerns about the free-floating TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins launched the weekend before Trump took office.

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