Crypto Market Bill Advanced by Senate Agriculture Panel

The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version of digital asset market structure legislation on a party-line vote, as key lawmakers on another panel continue to negotiate their piece of the contentious bill.

The Agriculture Committee’s measure would establish the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as the primary regulator of a vast swath of the digital asset industry, giving it authority to regulate spot commodities, like Bitcoin, for the first time. Historically, the CFTC has regulated derivatives on commodities, such as wheat futures, rather than the spot commodities themselves.