Crypto industry executives and lobbyists met with key U.S. senators on Wednesday for late-stage talks on a stalled market structure bill, as fresh scrutiny from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) raises the political stakes.
Industry Makes Final Push Before January Reset
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), chair of the Senate Banking Committee, hosted the closed-door meeting with representatives from major cryptocurrency firms, advocacy groups, and financial institutions, according to people familiar with the discussions, as reported by CoinDesk.
The meeting brought together executives from companies including Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), Kraken, and Chainlink (CRYPTO: LINK), alongside trade groups such as the Blockchain Association and DeFi Education Fund.
Representatives from traditional finance, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, were also present.
Lawmakers are expected to pause active negotiations until January.
That timing makes this week one of the industry’s last chances to influence unresolved provisions before talks resume.
Market Structure Bill Slips Into New Year
Senators from both parties are working to finalize a framework that would define regulatory oversight of digital asset markets, including Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).
The effort follows earlier success this year in passing legislation governing U.S. stablecoin issuers.
While industry participants had hoped for concrete progress before year-end, such as a committee markup in either the Banking Committee or the Senate Agriculture Committee, the timeline has now slipped.
Budget negotiations and looming federal spending deadlines are expected to complicate the legislative calendar in early 2026.
DeFi Rules And Ethics Proposals Remain Sticking Points
Negotiations remain stuck over how the bill should treat decentralized finance platforms.
Democrats have also pushed proposals that would restrict senior government officials from maintaining business ties to the cryptocurrency industry.
Those ethics provisions are widely viewed as targeting President Donald Trump, whose family has financial ties to crypto ventures.
The White House has rejected claims that those relationships create conflicts of interest.
Warren’s Inquiry Raises Political Temperature
The industry outreach follows a request by Senator Elizabeth Warren on Monday for federal scrutiny of PancakeSwap (CRYPTO: CAKE).
She asked the Treasury Department and the Justice Department to investigate concerns that the platform may be promoting tokens tied to Trump-linked World Liberty Financial (CRYPTO: WLFI).
Warren’s request sharpened tensions around enforcement and political influence as negotiations stalled.
It also raised the risk that talks could fracture further when lawmakers reconvene.
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$BTCBitcoin$86446.00-1.60%Overview$CAKEPancakeSwapNot Available-%$ETHEthereum$2848.72-3.82%$LINKChainlink$12.34-4.59%COINCoinbase Global Inc$249.11-1.39%GSThe Goldman Sachs Group Inc$871.34-0.89%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
