Senate Democrats push for 'bipartisan authorship process' for crypto market structure bill

Twelve Senate Democrats released a statement on Friday pressing their Republican colleagues to allow for bipartisan authorship of the crypto market structure legislation currently making its way through Congress. 

"We hope our Republican colleagues will agree to a bipartisan authorship process, as is the norm for legislation of this scale," the legislators wrote in their statement. "Given our shared interest in moving forward quickly on this issue, we hope they will agree to reasonable requests to allow for true collaboration."

The statement was signed by a bloc of crypto-involved Democrats, including Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Mark Warner (D-VA), and others. The letter comes after the same group unveiled a seven-pillar framework for regulating U.S. crypto markets, which set the stage for bipartisan talks as Republicans continue to work their draft of the Clarity Act, which has already been passed by the House of Representatives, through the Senate.

Democrats want a greater role in writing the legislation, rather than offering comments on a GOP-written bill, according to a report from Politico citing unnamed Democratic aides. Democrats also want closer coordination with the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 

Senate Banking Republicans have expressed openness to waiting until Oct. 20 for input on the bill, according to Politico, but the committee members have yet to finalize the schedule. 

The latest draft of the Republican-led bill calls on the SEC and CFTC to set up a joint committee to provide recommendations on "regulatory harmonization" between the two agencies, which in the past have taken differing approaches to digital assets. The Democrats' framework, meanwhile, would give the CFTC new powers over spot markets for non-security tokens and create a process to determine when the SEC can regulate a token as a security. 

Senate Democrats are also looking to bar elected government officials and their families from launching or profiting from crypto projects while in office, while calling for increased funding for regulators, a pointed attack at President Donald Trump, who has significantly increased his net worth while in office through crypto dealings.