in brief
- Crypto policymakers believe this week that market structure bills are highly improbable to pass Congress this year.
- The crypto industry has pushed for over half a year to get both stablecoin and market structure bills passed in 2025.
- Now policymakers begin to visualize a future without market structure legislation, which would create a formal framework for regulating most crypto assets in the U.S.
Crypto's Battle for Regulation Hits a Roadblock: Trump's Crypto Ventures
Cryptocurrency Sector's Desired Market Framework Legislation Faces Demise, According to Lobbyists
Late last night, the House's crypto market structure bill passed votes in two committees, causing celebration on Capitol Hill and statements of optimism from lawmakers that the legislation – which would establish a novel framework for regulating most crypto activity in the U.S. – is on a favorable track to become law.
But behind the scenes, over the past week, crypto's top lobbyists have come to an unanimous conclusion: the likelihood of market structure legislation passing this year has plummeted to near-zero.
"Anyone who disagrees is just plain ignorant," one top crypto lobbyist told Decrypt Wednesday.
Several reasons relate to the bill itself and the political climate, making market structure a tough sell for many Democrats, five crypto policy leaders who spoke with Decrypt revealed. However, the primary obstacle looming large at the top of that list: Donald Trump's numerous personal and lucrative crypto ventures, which Democrats have exploited as a potent weapon against the President during his second term.
In recent weeks, Democrats in both the House and Senate have connected pending crypto bills to the President, demanding the bills include language that would prevent Trump and his immediate family from participating in crypto ventures while he remains in office. House Republicans resisted efforts to incorporate such language into stablecoin-specific legislation, suggesting the conversation would be more appropriate during broader market structure bill discussions.
Yesterday, the House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-AR) stated, during a committee markup of their market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, Republicans again blocked efforts to include conflict-of-interest language in the legislation that would affect the President’s crypto businesses.
"This bill is not about the personal finances of any one individual," Hill stated at one point during Tuesday's markup. "It's not an ethics bill."
Trump's crypto dealings are single-handedly responsible for ruining the chances of a crypto market structure bill passing Congress, the top crypto lobbyist asserted.
"Reasons one, two, three, four, and five are the President’s business dealings in crypto while in office," they said.
The lobbyist placed a significant portion of the blame for this development on the operators of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto platform.
"These people, they despise us," the lobbyist said. "They announce a new product every time there's a key vote. During the markup yesterday, Eric Trump is tweeting about World Liberty and their new stablecoin. It's just insane."
We are just getting started! @WorldLibertyFi https://t.co/yIy4NqewRZ
- Eric Trump (@EricTrump) June 10, 2025
Other macro political factors also impacted the odds of crypto market structure legislation passing this year, another policy expert told Decrypt. Passing bills with bipartisan support has become progressively more arduous with every passing day of President Trump's second term, the expert said, given every news cycle brings more reasons why Democrats would find it difficult, optically, to endorse one of the White House's top policy priorities.
This week, for example, the President mobilized the U.S. military to quell protests against his administration's immigration policies in Los Angeles, an extraordinary escalation that Democrats have framed as an assault on democracy. During yesterday's CLARITY Act committee markup, some of the most heated exchanges between members of both parties centered not on crypto but instead the escalating situation in California.
Partisan tensions, which lingered in the background of crypto proceedings only months ago, have now become an insurmountable obstacle to market structure legislation – which will require Democratic support to become law – the expert said.
Weeks ago, these forces nearly derailed the passage of the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin bill in the Senate that is widely considered less contentious than broader market structure legislation. In their current form, market structure bills would amend America's decades-old securities laws to exempt most crypto tokens from the Securities and Exchange Commission's oversight.
"GENIUS was a catastrophe," the expert said. "And this bill is more ambitious."
Another crypto lobbyist who spoke with Decrypt for this story initially expressed some hope earlier this week that the CLARITY Act might still pass if combined in the House with stablecoin legislation and expedited as a megabill.
"You have to create an unstoppable freight train running from the House," the lobbyist said Tuesday.
However, after last night's vote on the CLARITY Act by the House Financial Services Committee, which saw only two Democrats join Republicans to advance the bill to the House floor, the lobbyist revised their once cautiously optimistic outlook.
"That vote significantly reduces my expectations for market structure," the lobbyist said Wednesday. "It's more likely GENIUS will pass standalone."
Every policy expert Decrypt spoke to for this story concurred. The GENIUS Act is currently approaching a final vote on the Senate floor, with cloture votes on the legislation set for this afternoon. If the House's attempts to pass a crypto megabill fail, congressional Republicans and the White House will likely take a victory on stablecoins and call it a day, the experts said.
A White House official responded, "The Administration is committed to seeing market structure through, as it was passed out of committee last night. We're excited about the bipartisan progress being made."
"The White House is extremely optimistic and dedicated to seeing that both stablecoin and market structure legislation make it to the President's desk," the official added.
On Tuesday, 18 Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee did support the CLARITY Act. The bill had to pass votes before the Agriculture Committee and Financial Services, which jointly wrote the legislation.
It was a foregone conclusion that the CLARITY Act would pass Agriculture, however, and the result during the more closely watched Financial Services Committee vote was considered a disappointment. Multiple pro-crypto Democrats ultimately voted against advancing the legislation to the House floor.
"Yesterday's vote makes clear that, while we all recognize that crypto is part of the future – it cannot and will not happen this way," House Financial Services Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) said in a statement shared with Decrypt. "Not without clear guardrails, and not while Trump is brazenly and illegally using crypto to make himself and his family even richer." Waters added, "It's why we on the Financial Services Committee voted overwhelmingly against this reckless piece of legislation last night. I suspect the same will happen with House Democrats if and when this reaches the floor."
A Democratic House staffer told Decrypt, "Republicans thought they'd be able to peel off a lot of Democrats but were only able to get two. That spells trouble."
Should Congress pass a stablecoin bill without accompanying market structure legislation, the task of regulating crypto markets would likely fall to the SEC, which has demonstrated, since the beginning of Trump's second term, eagerness and willingness to create favorable conditions for the crypto industry. That regulatory fix would not be permanent, however, and the agency's attitude towards crypto could easily shift with a future President's views on the industry.
One crypto lobbyist who spoke with Decrypt for this story agreed there is little path forward for a market structure bill this year. The only option, they said, is to try again in 2026.
When asked whether the odds of passage would be any better for market structure next year, given the looming midterm elections and other obstacles, the lobbyist had no response. They merely put their hands in the air, smiled exasperatedly, and shrugged.
Editor's note: This story was updated after publication to include comments from Maxine Waters.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
- The crypto industry has been pursuing the passage of both stablecoin and market structure bills since over half a year ago, but policymakers are starting to envision a future without market structure legislation, as it seems improbable to pass Congress this year.
- Crypto's top lobbyists unanimously believe that the likelihood of market structure legislation passing this year has plummeted to near-zero, due to numerous reasons related to the bill itself, the political climate, and Donald Trump's crypto ventures.
- Trump's personal and lucrative crypto ventures have become a weapon against the President during his second term, as Democrats have connected pending crypto bills to the President, demanding language that would prevent Trump and his immediate family from participating in crypto ventures while he remains in office.
- House Republicans resisted efforts to incorporate such language into stablecoin-specific legislation, suggesting the conversation would be more appropriate during broader market structure bill discussions.
- The House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill stated during a committee markup of their market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, that Republicans again blocked efforts to include conflict-of-interest language in the legislation that would affect the President’s crypto businesses.
- Trump's crypto dealings are primarily to blame for the bill's low chances of passing Congress, according to a top crypto lobbyist, who also placed a significant portion of the blame on the operators of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto platform.
- A policy expert informed Decrypt that passsing bills with bipartisan support has become increasingly difficult with every passing day of President Trump's second term, given the news cycle brings more reasons why Democrats would find it difficult, optically, to endorse one of the White House's top policy priorities.
- Whenever a key vote occurs, the operators of World Liberty Financial announce a new product and Eric Trump tweets about World Liberty and their new stablecoin, which is seen as insane by one lobbyist.
- If the House's attempts to pass a crypto megabill fail, congressional Republicans and the White House will likely take a victory on stablecoins and call it a day, according to policy experts, or they may try again in 2026, as suggested by one crypto lobbyist.
