Congress | Crypto

As Congress prepared to celebrate the president's signing of the bipartisan housing bill that contains a CBDC prohibition, Trump abruptly cancelled the event.

Protect Progress spent $5.5M to flip a 24-candidate Maryland primary, sending crypto-backed Adrian Boafo to Congress as the industry builds its 2026 bloc. The post Fairshake’s $5.5M Maryland Bet Pays Off: Boafo Heads to Congress appeared first on Cryptonews.

A trio of crypto lobby groups says a bill allowing staking and mining rewards to be taxed when they’re sold should be passed without further amendments. A group of crypto lobbying organizations has urged Congress to pass a bill on crypto staking and mining taxes without changes, saying it would provide clarity on crypto rewards taxes and ensure blockchains “can be secured by Americans in America.” The Blockchain Association, the Crypto Council for Innovation and The Digital Chamber said in a letter on Sunday to House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith and its top Democrat, Richard Neal, that the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act should be passed “as introduced.” “After years of uncertainty about how mining and staking rewards are taxed, the bill provides a durable compromise that innovators can support while addressing concerns raised by some lawmakers,” the group wrote. Read more

Gambling industry groups want the US Senate to step in to clarify that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission does not have the authority to oversee prediction markets. Several national gaming and tribal organizations and labor groups have reportedly called on the US Senate to add language “that explicitly prohibits event contracts tied to sports and casino-style gaming” in the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. According to a Wednesday Semafor report, groups tied to sports betting, including the Indian Gaming Association and American Gaming Association have united against what they called gambling on prediction markets. They requested that the US Congress use the CLARITY Act now under consideration in the Senate to affirm that “sports betting falls outside the [Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s] remit and cannot be offered through prediction market platforms.” “While our organizations may differ on other issues, including gambling policy, we are united in our concern that prediction markets h...

The bill avoids market regulation while trying to rebuild federal coordination for hacks, tracing, and victims. The post Congress moves to rebuild crypto crime task force after DOJ dismantled its dedicated crypto team appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A June 9 Ways and Means hearing pushes crypto policy into the tax code, where small payments, stablecoin use, network fees, mining, staking, and donations all face the same usability test. The post Congress is weighing whether crypto tax relief should stop at stablecoins appeared first on CryptoSlate.

For traditional US banks, the CLARITY Act was intended as a firewall that effectively barred crypto companies from offering “passive” interest on stablecoins. The legislation aimed to prevent a catastrophic deposit flight in which everyday checking account balances drain from the banking system into high-yield crypto exchanges. But as lawmakers prepare to finalize the framework, […] The post Banks pushed Congress to kill stablecoin yield with CLARITY Act – Coinbase may have found the loophole appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The CLARITY Act's markup has moved past the stablecoin yield standoff to Sen. John Kennedy's housing frustration, unresolved protections for software developers, and the Republican vote math that Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott still needs to close. The Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise that broke the yield deadlock allows stablecoin rewards tied to platform usage and activity while […] The post Crypto Clarity rules may be delayed because Congress is somehow stuck arguing over housing appeared first on CryptoSlate.

SEC chair Paul Atkins is under fire from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who says he “may have been deliberately trying” to mislead Congress about the agency’s enforcement activity. US Senator Elizabeth Warren has accused Paul Atkins, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, of possibly lying to Congress about the agency’s enforcement numbers. Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a letter to Atkins dated Wednesday that the SEC’s enforcement data for fiscal year 2025, released on April 7, raised “significant concerns” about his answers at a Feb. 12 congressional hearing. “At the hearing, I specifically asked you to comment on publicly available data highlighting a decline in SEC enforcement activity,” Warren said. “In response, you demurred, stating that you were ‘not sure what data’ I was looking at.” Read more

Washington isn't trying to solve every crypto policy fight at once, but it appears to be carving out a workable path for one specific category of digital asset: the regulated, dollar-pegged stablecoin. The GENIUS Act established the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, and a bipartisan House tax discussion draft now proposes friendlier tax […] The post Congress on verge of making regulated dollar stablecoins act almost like digital cash appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Senator Elizabeth Warren said Paul Atkins may have intentionally misled Congress by pushing back over the SEC's dwindling enforcement actions.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the CLARITY Act is vital to setting clear rules for crypto, tokenized assets and decentralized exchanges, and that US leadership is at stake. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has asked Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act without delay, warning that Senate floor time is limited and now is the moment to act. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday, Bessent said the legislation is critical for providing clear regulatory rules for digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets and decentralized exchanges. He warned that with the global crypto market rising to $3 trillion and nearly one in six Americans holding digital assets, the stakes for US leadership in financial innovation are higher than ever. “To preserve it and rise to the challenge before us, Congress must pass the Clarity Act. Senate floor time is scarce, and now is the time to act,” he wrote. Read more

Washington is building a cleaner lane for digital dollars, and the consequence for Bitcoin is becoming easier to map. Over the past year, U.S. lawmakers, regulators, and the White House have moved in the same direction. The GENIUS Act framework advanced in the Senate with language built around payment stablecoins, reserve backing, consumer protection, and […] The post Congress aims to make digital dollars easier to use than Bitcoin solidifying the ‘digital gold’ narrative appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Congress has introduced the Digital Asset PARITY Act, a bipartisan discussion draft introduced by Reps. Steven Horsford and Max Miller, who would rewrite Section 1091 to cover “specified assets.” The category explicitly includes actively traded digital assets and their derivatives, and carves out a narrow class of regulated payment stablecoins from routine gain-or-loss recognition. The […] The post Congress proposes removal of widely used Bitcoin tax loophole and giving it to regulated stablecoins appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The President-backed effort to set broader rules for US crypto markets is nearing a political deadline in Congress as banks press lawmakers and regulators to block stablecoin companies from offering rewards that resemble interest on deposits. The fight has become one of the central unresolved questions in Washington’s crypto agenda. At stake is whether dollar-linked […] The post Congress has only weeks left to convince banks on crypto CLARITY Act or risk losing it to midterms appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Iran-linked contracts drove prediction market activity higher as the CFTC opened rulemaking and Democrats moved to ban war and death bets. Prediction market activity has climbed sharply as traders flock to contracts tied to the escalating US-Iran conflict, while Washington moves toward clearer federal rules for event contracts and a legislative push to explicitly bar markets tied to war, terrorism and death. Notional trading volume on Polymarket and Kalshi rose to new all-time highs during the week ending Monday, March 9, to $2.49 billion and $2.85 billion, respectively, according to Token Terminal data. The growing activity has pushed the total notional volume across all prediction markets to $145 billion through 2.8 million unique users, data from Dune shows. While the ongoing conflict drives more activity to these platforms, US regulators are seeking public feedback on new prediction market legislation and weighing a potential ban on war and terrorism-related event contracts. Read more

While Congress pushes ahead with the CLARITY Act, the unfinished fight over how the U.S. draws the line between “crypto” and “securities” is spilling into public view, and into a familiar blame game. Online, critics argue the bill’s structure could hardwire advantages for regulated incumbents, with centralized platforms accused of quietly backing tweaks that would […] The post Crypto yields expose the exact amount banks are underpaying you, and why they want Congress to ban it appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The 2024 US election saw more money and support from the crypto and blockchain industry than ever before, with some experts predicting a repeat in the midterms. Following the 2024 elections, in which an estimated 270 lawmakers with favorable views on digital assets won seats in the US Congress, many cryptocurrency-affiliated organizations and political action committees show no signs of slowing their progress in the next significant election, the 2026 midterms. Likely boosted by advocacy work from organizations — such as the Coinbase-affiliated Stand With Crypto group and whose campaigns were supported by media buys from political action committees (PACs) — a majority of lawmakers in the 119th session of the US Congress took office in January having already expressed views signaling that they would support pro-crypto legislation and policies.  In the last year, some of Congress’s work supported that theory. The US House of Representatives passed three significant bills in July as part of the Republicans’ “Cry...

A coalition of corporate Bitcoin (BTC) holders announced the first members of the Treasury Council on Sept. 16, positioning themselves as advocates for federal Bitcoin adoption. The Treasury Council includes nine chief executives from companies holding Bitcoin in their corporate treasuries, led by Strategy CEO Phong Le, MARA Chairman Fred Thiel, and Riot CEO Jason […] The post Bitcoin advocates form ‘Treasury Council’ to push for corporate adoption in Congress appeared first on CryptoSlate.

According to some Republican lawmakers, the first crypto-related priority in the Senate will be to pass legislation for market structure. After a monthlong break, the US Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled to return to conducting government business, which includes key policies affecting the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. Both chambers of the 119th session of the US Congress went on recess weeks ago as part of their schedule established in January. The move effectively paused any work toward passage of a bill to establish digital asset market structure, consider the nomination of Brian Quintenz to become chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and legislation containing a provision for restricting a central bank digital currency (CBDC). One of the first legislative items on Republicans’ agenda upon their return will be to pass a bill establishing crypto market structure out of a committee and for a floor vote. Read more