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Senators scramble as crypto fissures threaten key bill |
Senators are scrambling to find a way forward on key cryptocurrency legislation after the Senate Banking Committee postponed a highly anticipated markup following the loss of a major industry player's support. |
Late Wednesday, Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) announced he was delaying Thursday morning's markup of the crypto market structure bill. The Senate markup was seen as a key milestone for the industry, which has been pushing for the legislation for years. The markup already appeared poised for fireworks after a new 278-page draft of the bill faced scrutiny from the crypto industry, particularly over a contentious stablecoin rewards provision. The final straw appears to have been the loss of Coinbase's support. The crypto exchange's CEO Brian Armstrong said late Wednesday that his company did not support the current version of the bill. "The interest issue was the killer," Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) told The Hill. "I would say that if you're teetering on the edge of a cliff, and you're almost gonna fall because of the interest issue, and then Brian Armstrong comes along and just adds that extra pound, that's what took it over the edge," she said. Republicans and crypto-friendly Democrats in the Senate have been locked in negotiations over market structure legislation for the past six months, after passing a stablecoin bill known as the GENIUS Act last year. Senate Banking Republicans have long been pushing to schedule a markup, even as Democrats have argued the two sides are still too far apart. Scott drew a line in the sand last week, announcing the Thursday meeting. Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.), whose panel is responsible for the other half of the legislation, was initially aiming for a markup on the same day, but announced earlier this week that he would postpone until late January amid progress in bipartisan talks. Check out the full report at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter, I'm Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. |
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How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future: |
Ailing astronaut, colleagues return to Earth in first NASA medical evacuation |
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NASA completed its first medical evacuation early Thursday, when an ailing astronaut and three others splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, more than a month ahead of schedule. The four astronauts — NASA's Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, along with Japan's Kimiya Yui and Russia's Oleg Platonov — returned to Earth at 3:41 a.m. EST off the coast of San Diego. SpaceX guided the splashdown of its Dragon spacecraft. The space agency … |
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Musk's X further restricts Grok image editing after criticism |
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Elon Musk's social platform X is further restricting image editing tools available with its AI chatbot Grok in the face of growing criticism over a recent surge in AI-generated sexualized images of women and children on the platform. X's safety team said Wednesday it is implementing measures to block all users, including paid subscribers, from using Grok to edit images of real people in "revealing clothing such as bikinis." … |
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Lawmakers propose $2.5B agency to boost production of rare earths and other critical minerals |
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers have proposed creating a new agency with $2.5 billion to spur production of rare earths and the other critical minerals, while the Trump administration has already taken aggressive actions to break China’s grip on the market for these materials that are crucial to high-tech products, including cellphones, electric vehicles, jet fighters and missiles. It's too early to … |
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News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: |
- U.S. senators demand answers from X, Meta, Alphabet and others on sexualized deepfakes (TechCrunch)
- Anthropic study says AI job impact is more evolution than apocalypse (Axios)
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Branch out with other reads on The Hill: |
Congress and telemarketers rank at the bottom on ethics: Gallup |
(NewsNation) — Americans have a dim view of telemarketers, but they think even less of members of Congress. In a recent Gallup survey, 71 percent of respondents rated Congress’s honesty and ethics as “low” or “very low,” the worst showing of any profession measured. Telemarketers were the only group that came close, at 62 percent. Notably, that skepticism crossed party lines, with little difference … |
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You're all caught up. See you tomorrow! |
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