Members of Congress are meeting Tuesday morning to discuss Bitcoin and the broader crypto market structure, the latest in a series of legislative sessions aimed at finally giving the digital asset industry regulatory clarity.
The timing matters. A draft bill advanced by the Senate Agriculture Committee proposes splitting crypto oversight between two agencies: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Bitcoin, classified as a commodity-like digital asset, would fall under the CFTC’s jurisdiction. Investment contracts, meanwhile, would remain in the SEC’s lane.
The committee advanced the bill in a party-line vote. Senator John Boozman discussed next steps on CNBC following the bill’s advancement. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, has also weighed in on the draft during a Senate session.
A recent bipartisan meeting facilitated by the White House added another layer of momentum. The Blockchain Association described that meeting as a critical step forward for finding bipartisan solutions to digital asset market structure.
Senate Democrats held closed-door discussions on December 8, 2025, to review a GOP offer regarding the bill.
The absence of clear crypto regulation in the US has kept significant institutional capital on the sidelines. A comprehensive market structure bill could unlock capital measured in the trillions, according to industry estimates. For Bitcoin specifically, formal classification as a commodity under CFTC oversight would reinforce what most market participants already assume but regulators have never codified into comprehensive legislation.
The competitive landscape also shifts. Crypto companies have been migrating to jurisdictions with clearer regulatory frameworks, including the EU, which implemented its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, and the UAE. Efforts to create a federal framework for cryptocurrency market structure began in 2022 with initial proposals such as the Lummis-Gillibrand bill, with the recent Senate Agriculture Committee draft building on prior initiatives like the FIT21 legislation.