Senate Ag Committee Poised to Reveal Latest Crypto Bill Text
While Banking remains in a holding pattern, Ag is set to push forward with its market structure markup
Welcome to the Wednesday edition of the Crypto In America newsletter!
What you’ll read: While Banking is in a holding pattern on its markup, Senate Ag is expected to release its latest market structure text today. Plus, Carlos Domingo breaks down all things tokenization and a roundup of this week’s biggest stories.
Crypto stakeholders are largely in “wait and see” mode on market structure. Senators are out of session this week, many crypto CEOs are in Switzerland at Davos thinking big thoughts, and Banking and Ag committee staffers are gearing up for Ag’s markup, still scheduled for next Tuesday.
In the meantime, the Ag Committee is expected to release its latest legislative text by the close of business today. That will give stakeholders a sense of the key issues to focus on ahead of next week’s rescheduled markup and whether the extra two weeks of negotiations between Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) produced a truly bipartisan bill.
Some of the sticking points that have seen back-and-forth between committee Democrats and Republicans include whether meme coins will be included in the definition of “digital commodities,” overall listing standards and how different tokens fit under that definition, funding for the CFTC to oversee crypto, and the inclusion of ethics provisions.
Banking Committee staffers are hoping a successful bipartisan deal from their Ag counterparts could pave the way for a smoother markup of their own, but whether that will happen remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, there’s still no word on when a rescheduled Banking markup might occur after last week’s postponement. The onus now seems to be largely on Coinbase — whose abrupt withdrawal of support for the bill brought the markup to a screeching halt — to secure a deal with the banks on yield so both sides can return to the table. CEO Brian Armstrong is in Davos with the likes of Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, and others, where he says he’s been meeting with bank leaders to “get them to a yes” on stablecoin yield.
On Tuesday evening, Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council Patrick Witt took a jab at Coinbase in a post on X, warning that delaying the market structure bill could invite harsher regulation under a less crypto‑friendly administration. The post seemed to confirm Crypto In America’s reporting that the White House is angry with the exchange over its withdrawal of support for the bill, which contributed to the pause in the markup.
In his Davos speech Wednesday morning, President Trump gave a nod to the market structure process, saying, “Congress is working very hard on crypto market structure legislation, which I hope to sign very soon, unlocking new pathways for Americans to reach financial freedom.”
Tokenization Takeover, Thoughts On Market Structure & Yield | Carlos Domingo
This week on the pod, we sat down with Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, to take stock of where tokenization stands in the U.S. capital markets.
Carlos walked us through the evolution of the space, from his early experiments with tokenized venture funds designed to add liquidity to inherently illiquid assets to today’s focus on real-world assets like U.S. Treasuries, private credit, and equity, explaining why major institutions like BlackRock and Apollo Global are leaning in.
We also dug into the New York Stock Exchange’s plan to build an on-chain trading venue for tokenized equities, which Carlos calls a major step forward. Regulation was another key theme. He emphasized that the Clarity Act confirms tokenized securities are still securities, that the changing of the guard at the SEC has expanded what is possible for many crypto firms, and that proper disclosures remain critical, especially for retail investors. On yield, Carlos highlighted real-world assets as a safer and more transparent foundation for DeFi lending, helping shift the market away from opaque, high-risk strategies.
Watch this episode on all platforms here.
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Midweek Recap
ICYMI: Here are some of the biggest stories making headlines this week.
The New York Stock Exchange is developing a new 24/7 trading venue to trade and settle tokenized stocks on-chain.
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig launched the “Future-Proof” initiative to modernize rules for crypto and prediction markets and prevent regulation by enforcement.
Bitcoin and the broader crypto market are in the red this week alongside the S&P and Nasdaq, which both wiped out their gains for the year on Tuesday amid geopolitical jitters.
Gold notched another all-time high above $4,800 as safe-haven demand surged, while silver topped $95 for the first time.
President Trump’s family has added roughly $1.4 billion in wealth from crypto since he took office last year, according to a Bloomberg report.
Caroline Ellison, the former girlfriend and colleague of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is set to be released from federal custody today. She remains barred from executive roles at public companies and crypto exchanges for 10 years.
President Trump signed an executive order to restrict large institutional investors from buying single-family homes.
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