Wall Street, Crypto Leaders Make 'Progress' on Crypto Bill in Private Meeting: Sources
Leaders of a major Wall Street trade group and DeFi-focused crypto leaders are trying to hash out key disagreements before the market structure bill faces a do-or-die Senate vote next week.
In brief
- Wall Street and crypto groups met privately Thursday to resolve disputes over the Senate’s crypto market structure bill.
- Sources say the "productive" meeting offered signs of progress on the thorny issue of DeFi.
- But the bill is set to face a key Senate vote in less than a week, and many are worried about getting a deal done in time.
A group of rival stakeholders met privately Thursday to hash out disagreements over crypto’s market structure bill, as the legislation hurtles towards a potentially make-or-break Senate vote penciled for next week.
The meeting, which has not been previously reported, included representatives of SIFMA, a major Wall Street trade group protesting key elements of the bill, and a handful of crypto industry representatives, according to sources with direct knowledge of the talks.
One source told Decrypt the meeting offered glimmers of “progress” on the thorny issue of decentralized finance, or DeFi, shorthand for the crypto-native applications that allow for the trading of assets without third-party intermediaries.
SIFMA has in recent weeks voiced objections to regulatory carve-outs in the bill for certain decentralized finance services and their developers, the source said. Another source characterized today’s talks as “constructive” and “productive” on the subject of DeFi.
One source said SIFMA has also been pushing, along with the banking lobby, to retroactively outlaw yield-generating, dollar-pegged stablecoins, which were tacitly permitted by the GENIUS Act—another piece of crypto legislation signed into law by President Donald Trump last summer.
When reached by Decrypt, a SIFMA representative denied that the group has yet “taken a position on yield-bearing stablecoins”—but did not comment on its purported DeFi-related concerns with the market structure bill.
At Thursday’s meeting, crypto policy leaders—including one representative of venture giant Andreessen Horowitz, and another from the DeFi Education Fund—attempted to convince SIFMA to moderate its requests, which have already been partially adopted by key pro-crypto Senate Democrats this week.
Both sides have little time to reach an agreement. Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott (R-SC) announced earlier this week that he plans to hold a crucial markup of the crypto bill next Thursday, despite from industry leaders that such an accelerated timeline could blow up monthslong bipartisan negotiations over the legislation.