Lawmakers signaled fresh momentum for U.S. crypto legislation at the DC Blockchain Summit this week, with Sen. Cynthia Lummis indicating the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee could take up a long-discussed market-structure bill in late April. Negotiators also reported progress on thorny issues around stablecoin yield and decentralized finance (DeFi), raising the prospect of a floor vote later this year.
Lummis Targets Late-April Markup, Year-End Passage
Speaking at the summit, Sen. Lummis said she expects a committee markup on a crypto market-structure package—referred to by some participants as the CLARITY Act—shortly after the Easter recess. She expressed confidence the panel would advance the measure and that the full Senate could consider it before year-end.
“We’re gonna have this thing done, come hell or high water, by the end of the year,” Lummis told attendees, adding that a Banking Committee markup is “likely in the second half of April.”
The market-structure effort aims to delineate regulatory oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), define when digital assets are securities or commodities, and set guardrails for trading platforms and custodians—issues that have long stymied bipartisan consensus.
Compromise Emerges on Stablecoin Yield
Stablecoin yield has been a central sticking point in negotiations, with banking groups warning that rewards programs could resemble deposit interest and undermine traditional accounts. According to Lummis, draft language under discussion would bar crypto platforms from marketing or delivering rewards using terminology that mimics bank deposit products or scales returns in ways that resemble interest on balances.
“Anything that sounds like banking product terminology will not appear,” she said, noting she had not reviewed the latest text but that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong had indicated a willingness to compromise.
Separately, reporting from the summit indicated that Senate Banking leaders are working toward an initial proposal on stablecoin yield mechanics and disclosures, with the goal of circulating text in the near term. The focus includes how consumer-facing rewards are described, how they are funded, and what protections apply when platforms pause or modify programs.
DeFi Framework and Agency Governance
Lummis also said negotiators believe they have addressed key questions surrounding DeFi. “We think we’ve got the DeFi issue put to bed,” she noted, pointing to efforts to clarify oversight of peer-to-peer services and protocol-level functions without conflating them with custodial intermediaries.
At the committee level, lawmakers are also weighing governance and ethics provisions intended to broaden bipartisan support. Discussions have touched on representation and process considerations at the SEC and CFTC—independent agencies that would play central roles in implementing any market-structure law—along with approaches for handling conflicts and quorum-related issues during rulemaking.
Emphasizing the political window, Lummis said on social media that there has “never been a more pro–digital asset administration in United States history than @POTUS,” urging colleagues to finalize a durable framework while bipartisan negotiations remain active.
What Comes Next
If the Senate Banking Committee holds a markup in late April, the bill would still face a full Senate vote and reconciliation with any House provisions before reaching the president’s desk. The timing places crypto market-structure reform on a tight calendar, but the latest signals—particularly on stablecoin yield and DeFi—suggest negotiators are closing gaps that have previously stalled progress.
The DC Blockchain Summit, an annual policy forum in Washington, D.C., has increasingly become a venue for legislators and industry leaders to preview bill language, test compromises, and align on regulatory objectives. This week’s remarks indicate that crypto oversight remains a live, bipartisan project as Congress weighs consumer protection, market integrity, and innovation priorities heading into the second half of the year.