Overview
- Sen. Thom Tillis said Wednesday he will ask Chair Tim Scott to set a Banking Committee markup when the Senate returns the week of May 11, with updated bill text to go to stakeholders at least four days in advance.
- Chair Scott wants all 13 Republicans on the panel on board before a vote, as Sen. John Kennedy continues to hold out, and he has set a goal of a bipartisan markup in May followed by a possible floor vote in June or July.
- The core logjam is stablecoin yield, which concerns interest-like rewards on dollar-pegged tokens offered by exchanges, after Coinbase withdrew support in January over a proposed ban while banks push to keep that ban and the White House backs industry arguments.
- Tillis says he will oppose final passage without ethics language that limits how government officials can profit from or promote crypto, as Democrats press illicit finance concerns and Trump’s crypto ventures intensify scrutiny.
- Protections for DeFi software developers remain unsettled as Sen. Chuck Grassley seeks Judiciary Committee review, the Senate has roughly 11 working weeks before the August recess, and outside estimates put the bill’s odds this year between roughly 15% and 50% for a measure that would split crypto oversight between the SEC and CFTC.