‘We are so Close this Time‘ — Senator Lummis on Market Structure Bill

Update (March 18 at 6:52 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from Cynthia Lummis beginning in the eighth paragraph.

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the main proponents of a digital asset market structure bill in the US Congress, said that the legislation is getting closer to passage despite “things that [she] did not expect” in 2025. 

Speaking at the DC Blockchain Summit hosted by the Digital Chamber on Wednesday, Lummis said she had thought that the crypto industry would already be celebrating a “victory lap” for the market structure bill, which passed the US House of Representatives in July 2025. She said that “the main thing” that had held up the legislation was the fight over stablecoin yield and rewards between banking and crypto industry representatives.

“We are so close this time,” Lummis told Summit attendees. “Some of the people that have been very dug in on the issue of yield versus rewards have been working closely with the White House […] working with our members who have been trying to come up with a compromise on that issue. We think we’ve got it.”

Lummis sits on the Senate Banking Committee, which has been responsible for the bill being stalled in Congress after its chair, Tim Scott, indefinitely postponed a January markup on the legislation. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version of the bill in January, but both pieces of legislation will need to be combined in some fashion to address issues related to commodities and securities laws before a vote in the full chamber.

The Wyoming senator said that her colleagues would plan an April markup after the Easter recess. As of Wednesday, the banking committee had not rescheduled a markup on the bill.

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Among the issues stoking lawmakers’ debate are tokenized equities, ethics — for elected officials potentially profiting from investments in the crypto industry — stablecoin yield, and decentralized finance. The White House has held three meetings with crypto and banking industry representatives in 2026 in an attempt to move the legislation forward.

“We think we’ve got the DeFi issue put to bed,” said Lummis, adding that there were still some issues over money transmitters and how to clarify the definition of crypto assets as securities or commodities.

A spokesperson for Lummis said that the senator expected a deal on stablecoin yield “in the next few days,” and was working on a deal about ethics language in the bill.

Can Congress pass market structure before 2027?

One of the issues for proponents of the market structure bill has been the potential impact of the 2026 midterm elections, held in November and resulting in a new makeup of Congress in January. All 435 House seats and 33 in the Senate are up for grabs, giving Democrats an opportunity to take both chambers from Republicans.

“This may be our only chance to get market structure done,” said Lummis in a Wednesday X post, referring to the White House supporting the bill.

Lummis announced in December that she would not seek reelection.

“If we don’t get the CLARITY Act passed by May, digital asset legislation will not pass for the foreseeable future,” said Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno on Wednesday.

Speaking at the DC Blockchain Summit on Tuesday, Scott said he expected to have a proposal on how to address stablecoin yield in the bill “before the end of this week.” His Republican colleague, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, said last week that he didn’t expect the banking committee to pass market structure before April, instead prioritizing a controversial voting requirements bill.

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