Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is “very optimistic” the Senate Agriculture Committee’s updated legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies will advance, even though Republicans have yet to reach a deal with Democrats.
“Senators have been working on a bipartisan basis for the last six months pretty intensely, and we have two different bills,” Gillibrand told CNBC in an exclusive interview.
One piece of legislation is in the Agriculture Committee, which oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the second piece is at the Banking Committee, which oversees the Securities and Exchange Commission and banking issues, she said.
“Because these types of digital assets have some characteristics of both commodities and securities, you need regulation under both those committees,” Gillibrand said.
The Democratic senator is not a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, but has been involved in negotiations on crypto market structure. She explained that the two bills, which address different parts of crypto market structure, are being worked on simultaneously.
“I think both senators on the Banking and Ag committee are working in a bipartisan way and in good faith,” she said.
On Wednesday night, the Senate Agriculture Committee released the updated legislative text, which builds on a previously released bipartisan discussion draft. The bill would give the CFTC new authority to regulate digital assets.
In a statement, the chairman of the committee, John Boozman, R-Ark., acknowledged that “differences remain on fundamental policy issues,” but that the bill “builds on our bipartisan discussion draft while incorporating input from stakeholders and represents months of work.”
“Although it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t reach an agreement, I am grateful for the collaboration that has made this legislation better,” Boozman said, adding that “it’s time we move this bill.”
Markup of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s legislation to regulate digital commodities is scheduled for Jan. 27.
The Senate Banking Committee’s markup hearing on its draft text to regulate digital assets was scheduled for Jan. 15, but was postponed at the last minute after opposition from the crypto industry, including Coinbase.
When asked if she thinks the Senate Agriculture Committee’s hearing is also at risk of delay, Gillibrand told CNBC that there are still areas that need bipartisan resolutions, but she believes the markup will take place on Tuesday.
Gillibrand noted that the Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft is still in review, adding that “hopefully the senators will work on a bipartisan basis to amend that draft to make it stronger, to make it better, to continue their negotiations in the areas where there wasn’t resolution.”
She said that an earlier draft from the Agriculture Committee had a lot of bipartisan compromises in it, some of which were left out. “My hope is that those senators can get…
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