Treasury Secretary Bessent Calls on Congress to Pass Crypto Market Structure Legislation

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pressing lawmakers to move crypto market structure legislation, signaling that Washington wants a durable federal framework rather than continued case-by-case uncertainty for digital asset firms and investors.

What Bessent Asked Congress to Do on Crypto Market Structure

In official Treasury remarks tied to the White House digital assets report launch, Bessent said the next step is shepherding must-pass crypto market structure legislation through the Senate and explicitly pointed to the House CLARITY framework.

In plain terms, crypto market structure legislation sets which federal regulator oversees which token activity, what registration path trading venues must follow, and what disclosure and custody standards apply across the market.

H.R.3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, was introduced on May 29, 2025.

Congress.gov records that the bill passed the House by 294 – 134 (Roll no. 199) on July 17, 2025.

The latest Congress.gov action shows the measure was received in the Senate and referred to Senate Banking on September 18, 2025.

The Senate Banking Committee page confirms the FSOC annual report hearing was held on Thursday, February 5, 2026, with Bessent listed as witness.

CoinDesk’s hearing coverage reported that Bessent argued CLARITY must get across the finish line and framed resistance as coming from a nihilist group.

Why U.S. Crypto Market Structure Legislation Matters Now

The urgency is tied to concrete legislative positioning: H.R.3633 has already cleared the House and is now in Senate Banking, which means the next bottleneck is Senate procedure rather than bill drafting from scratch.

For exchanges, brokers, and issuers, the significance is that a single statute can reduce conflicting interpretations across agencies; that is why the 294 – 134 House vote matters as a signal of cross-party appetite for a unified framework.

Market participants are already trading around policy catalysts, as reflected in Coinlive’s coverage that Spot Bitcoin ETF Volume Tops $2.4B Today as BlackRock Leads Inflows, so legal clarity discussions are landing in an environment where positioning shifts quickly.

“Coin Center supports the passage of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act of 2025.”

Peter Van Valkenburgh, via Coin Center

Coin Center’s support note also points readers to Section 109, underscoring that the current debate is no longer about whether to legislate but about which specific compliance architecture should pass.

That policy uncertainty continues to interact with narrative-driven risk sentiment seen in coverage such as Adam Back Denies Being Satoshi Amid NYT Probe, where non-legislative headlines still reshape short-term conviction.

What to Watch Next in Congress

The first checkpoint is whether Senate Banking schedules formal work on the bill that was referred on September 18, 2025, because scheduling decisions will determine near-term legislative velocity.

The second checkpoint is coalition durability: the existing 294 – 134 House margin suggests bipartisan room to negotiate, but Senate changes can still narrow that coalition before any floor path is clear.

The third checkpoint is message discipline from Treasury and lawmakers after hearings like the one held on February 5, 2026, since coordinated public guidance often precedes movement on must-pass packages.

Timeline risk remains real until formal scheduling appears on the Senate calendar, so readers tracking macro-sensitive positioning can pair this policy thread with Coinlive’s running brief, Top Crypto News (Apr 8): Bitcoin Holds $68K as Iran Deadline Expires.