The Senate Agriculture Committee just punched through a critical milestone for crypto regulation, and now the real negotiations begin. Chairman John Boozman is pushing hard to get a comprehensive cryptocurrency market structure bill across the finish line this year, even after Democrats pulled support from the version his committee advanced last week. The stakes are high - this legislation would create the first national regulatory framework under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for an industry that's been operating in a regulatory gray zone for years.
Senator John Boozman isn't wasting time. The Arkansas Republican told CNBC Tuesday he feels "very strongly" about getting crypto legislation through the Senate this year, and he's not letting partisan friction slow things down. His Agriculture Committee voted Jan. 29 to advance a cryptocurrency market structure bill that would hand regulatory authority to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission - but the party-line vote exposed fractures that could complicate the path forward.
"Everybody is really working hard right now and I think getting it through a committee has kind of shown that we can make some momentum," Boozman said in the interview. That momentum matters because the crypto industry has been pushing for regulatory clarity for years, and the window to act may be narrowing.
