By CU Today
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The Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday postponed a planned discussion of draft legislation that would establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, hours after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly opposed the bill, according to Reuters.
The legislation, unveiled Monday, would define when crypto tokens are treated as securities or commodities and would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority over spot crypto markets. The markup had been scheduled for Thursday.
Committee Chairman Tim Scott said lawmakers and industry stakeholders remain engaged despite the delay. “Everyone remains at the table working in good faith,” Scott said in a statement announcing the postponement.
Reuters noted that earlier Wednesday, Armstrong said on X that Coinbase could not support the bill in its current form, arguing it had “too many issues,” including what he described as a de facto ban on tokenized equities, an erosion of CFTC authority, and draft provisions that would “kill rewards on stablecoins.”
Without Coinbase’s backing, it is unclear whether the markup can move forward. The company has been a major stakeholder in the negotiations and donated millions of dollars to political action committees backing pro-crypto candidates in 2024, Reuters said.