US lawmakers are expected to return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday after bad weather delayed committee meetings and votes, with attention turning to how senators will handle proposed amendments to the long-awaited crypto market structure bill.
On Thursday, senators on the Senate Agriculture Committee are expected to meet to consider the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act (DCIA), a bill aimed at establishing a framework for structuring the market for digital assets.
The markup is one of the chamber’s first attempts to advance market structure legislation as the Senate Banking Committee postponed its markup until after Coinbase. withdrew support for the invoice.
Among the 11 DCIA amendments publicly available at the time of publication were proposals to ban lawmakers and White House officials from engaging in the crypto industry, force companies to compete on credit card swipe fees, and combat foreign interference in U.S. markets.
Another amendment would prevent enforcement of the law until the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has at least four commissioners at its head.
The CFTC amendment, propose by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, was in response to the lack of commissioners at the federal financial regulator following the resignation of Acting Chair Caroline Pham and other members in 2025.
Klobuchar proposed that the market structure bill, if signed into law, not take effect “until at least four commissioners” of the CFTC are confirmed by the Senate.
Related: US Crypto Market Structure Bill Delayed by Winter Storm
The agency is expected to have five commissioners, one of whom will serve as chair. Only President Michael Selig, a Republican chosen by US President Donald Trump, remains after Pham’s departure in December.
Reaction from lawmakers and lobby groups
According to the most recent DCIA bill released on January 21, the bill establish clear roles for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC on the regulation of digital assets. However, some lawmakers and industry executives opposed bills in the Banking and Agriculture Committee that included provisions on stablecoin rewards, tokenized stocks, decentralized finance and ethics.
It’s unclear which Agriculture Committee amendments will be adopted Thursday, or how lawmakers might consolidate the bill with the Banking Committee, which has yet to reschedule its Jan. 15 increase.
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