Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.
One of the biggest outstanding risks to crypto in America is its politicization and the potential for reversals and clawbacks if power changes.
Well, that risk can be alleviated right now if Senate Democrats get their way.
An important crypto market structure bill is currently being debated in Congress, and it looks like a group of pro-crypto Democrats are ready to work across the aisle –
As long as certain conditions are met.
Yesterday, a group of 12 Senate Democrats released a policy framework spelling out what they want in any digital-asset market-structure bill.
First and foremost, they want seats at the SEC and CFTC. Both of which have 5 commissioner seats, capped at 3 per party.
In addition to those seats, other conditions span:
The move is positioned as a response to the GOP’s expanding draft and an invitation to negotiate a bipartisan deal that can clear the Senate.
The Democratic cohort includes Sens. Ruben Gallego, Mark Warner, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Raphael Warnock and others, several of whom voted for the bipartisan GENIUS stablecoin law, suggesting they’re viable swing votes.
“For digital assets regulation to succeed, it is essential that regulators have the funding and staff that they need. These agencies also require Democratic voices, as Congress intended: only a bipartisan regulatory process will produce durable, balanced rules that provide long-term stability and legitimacy for digital asset markets.” – Letter published by Sen. Ruben Gallego
“Democrats want to rightfully feel like their voice and concerns have a proxy in the room during any rulemaking at these agencies, and they want to know that, if confirmed, those commissioners won’t be summarily fired.” – A D.C. insider, speaking to Decrypt
This is the path to a real, durable crypto framework that can survive a change in power.
A Republican-only bill can pass the House, but it cannot clear the Senate without Democratic votes — and even if it did, it would be vulnerable to reversal in the next political cycle.
Bringing Democrats into the conversation now raises the odds of a stable, bipartisan regulatory framework that survives changes in power.
And overall their conditions are very reasonable: they want seats at the SEC & CFTC to have a say, assurances that new rules won’t weaken existing tradfi ones, prevention of using crypto to evade regulations, preserving consumer protection and creation an “appropriate and effective” DeFi framework.
On paper, all of those things make sense.
Working across the aisle now and reaching bipartisan agreement means less regulatory whiplash for exchanges, issuers, and investors, and a more predictable future.
And most importantly of all for 2028: if power flips again, a bipartisan law on the books is much harder to unwind than agency guidance or a narrow, partisan statute.
Cooperation today is the cheapest insurance policy against policy U-turns tomorrow.
Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:
Section dedicated to headlines in the AI sector of crypto:
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
