Crypto Must Compromise on Senate Bill: Trump Advisor

The US Senate’s crypto market structure bill must be passed quickly while lawmakers can still cut deals to advance it, but it will require concessions, says a top White House crypto advisor.

“There *will* be a crypto market structure bill — it’s a question of when, not if,” Patrick Witt, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said on Tuesday.

“Assuming a multi-trillion-dollar industry will continue to operate indefinitely without a comprehensive regulatory framework is pure fantasy,” he added. 

The Senate is looking to pass laws defining how the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would police crypto, but some crypto lobbyists are unhappy with provisions they argue are too restrictive on stablecoins and decentralized protocols.

The Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees, which respectively oversee the SEC and CFTC, had both delayed markups of the bill scheduled for Thursday to drum up bipartisan support to ensure it moves forward.

Take the opportunity “to pass a bill now”

Witt slammed Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s comments on Wednesday, where the exchange and major lobbyist dropped its support for the legislation and said it would “rather have no bill than a bad bill.” 

“What a privilege it is to be able to say those words thanks to President Trump’s victory, and the pro-crypto administration he has assembled,” Witt said.

“You might not love every part of the CLARITY Act, but I can guarantee you’ll hate a future Dem version even more.”

“Let’s keep working to improve the product, recognizing that compromises will need to be made in order to get 60 votes in the Senate, but let’s not let perfect be the enemy of the good,” he added.

He urged to “take advantage of the opportunity to pass a bill now, with a pro-crypto President, control of Congress, excellent regulators at the SEC and CFTC to write the rules, and a healthy industry,” claiming that Democratic lawmakers would “write punitive legislation.”

Related: CLARITY Act hinges on bipartisan support; here are the numbers: Analyst

Witt’s comments come as Republicans are pushing to implement their policy goals ahead of the midterms in November, where all House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are up for election.