The US Senate revised its crypto market structure bill on Friday, introducing a key provision to address how tokenized assets are regulated.
Under the new clause, stocks and other securities would remain classified as securities even when tokenized on a blockchain, eliminating uncertainty over whether they should instead fall under commodities rules.
The clarification is significant for digital asset firms pursuing tokenization. Since stocks are already regulated as securities, reaffirming that status in tokenized form ensures compatibility with broker-dealer frameworks, clearinghouses, and trading platforms.
“We want this on the president’s desk before the end of the year,” said Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a lead sponsor of the legislation, in an interview with CNBC.
Crypto Bill Splits Oversight Between SEC and CFTC
The legislation, called the Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025, lays out when digital assets fall under the Securities and Exchange Commission versus the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
According to Lummis, the Senate Banking Committee is expected to vote this month on SEC-related sections, followed by the Agriculture Committee’s October vote on CFTC oversight. A full Senate vote could take place as early as November.
Although the draft has yet to secure Democratic support, Lummis said bipartisan talks are underway. “There have been efforts to pair Democrats and Republicans on certain sub-issues within the bill,” she noted, expressing optimism about cross-party backing.
Crypto Firms Push for Developer Protections
In August, a coalition of 112 crypto companies, investors, and advocacy groups called on the Senate to add protections for software developers and non-custodial service providers in the bill.
In a letter to the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees, the group warned that outdated financial rules risk misclassifying developers as intermediaries.
Major players—including Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, a16z, and Uniswap Labs—signed the letter, arguing that regulatory uncertainty is already driving talent overseas. Citing Electric Capital data, they noted that the US share of open-source blockchain developers has declined from 25% in 2021 to 18% in 2025.
