There is a growing sense that 2025 will be a bust for long-awaited US legislation to establish a fully regulated crypto sector, but negotiations in the Senate may at least build momentum again, according to the sentiments of those who will speak to Senate Democrats this week.
Crypto leaders such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, Uniswap’s Hayden Adams and Solana Policy Institute President Kristin Smith are preparing to meet with up to 10 Democratic senators, according to expectations from people involved in the event, although plans were not yet in place. finished.
Wednesday’s meeting, which will also include the heads of Kraken and Galaxy Digital and executives from a16z Crypto and Circle, will look to move forward from controversial discussion language that recently emerged from the Democratic side. The decentralized finance (DeFi) ideas outlined were deemed unviable by industry experts, threatening negotiations over the cryptocurrency market structure bill that would establish rules and government oversight for US cryptocurrency markets.
Crypto chiefs hope to “get market structure legislation back on track and ensure communications with the industry remain open,” according to a Chainlink spokeswoman. “Dialogues like this are essential for this to become a reality.”
Earlier this year, senators from both parties were optimistic about finishing the legislation and getting it to the desk of President Donald Trump, who has already signed a bill regulating U.S.-issued stablecoins. While the House of Representatives has already passed market structure legislation with its Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, progress in the Senate has slowed as negotiations became contentious and the federal government shut down for lack of an approved spending plan.
Trump’s previous August deadline passed, followed by the Sept. 30 deadline set by Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. As continually postponed plans for legislative markup dates passed, Senator Cynthia Lummis had recently offered the end of the year as a more realistic goal, although others are less hopeful.
“The United States Senate will do its job,” Mannar Hanna, former general counsel to Senator Scott who now works at APCO Worldwide, said on a panel during DC Fintech Week. He joked that it pained him to admit that the House had already done its duty.
“I would say next year,” Hanna predicted of the completion of the market structure. “There is a lot at stake in Congress in the coming months.”
Read More: Senate Democrats’ Leaked Crypto Position Would Strangle DeFi, Industry Experts Say
UPDATE (October 20, 2025, 18:52 UTC): Add more company names as participants in the Senate meeting.
