The Senate’s crypto market structure bill has run into a fresh obstacle after Senator Thom Tillis said he would oppose the measure unless it includes ethics restrictions on how White House officials and other federal employees engage with digital assets.
Politico reported that Tillis warned he would pull his support if the legislation leaves the Senate without that language. His position raises the stakes for negotiations that were already difficult. “There has to be ethics language in the bill before it leaves the Senate, or I’ll go from one of the people working on negotiating it to voting against it,” he told the publication.
Ethics fight moves to the center of negotiations
Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego also linked the bill’s path to the same issue. He said there can be no final bill and no final movement unless lawmakers reach bipartisan agreement on the ethics provision tied to federal officials.
Tillis, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, carries weight in deciding whether the proposal can advance. The Senate is also trying to reconcile its approach with the House-approved Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which passed in July and divides oversight between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Conflict-of-interest concerns have grown sharper as Democratic lawmakers examine crypto ventures linked to former President Donald Trump and his family. Their argument is that any market structure bill should include guardrails preventing federal officials from sponsoring or promoting digital assets.
Senator Adam Schiff told Politico that talks have picked up after months of limited progress. He said negotiators are narrowing differences while other sections of the bill begin to take shape. Earlier this year, Schiff proposed a ban on “sponsoring, endorsing or issuing digital assets” for all federal employees, including the president, citing concerns around memecoins and NFTs tied to Trump’s name and likeness.
Stablecoin yield dispute remains unresolved
The delays are not limited to ethics language. A parallel disagreement over stablecoin yield provisions is also slowing the legislation. Tillis is working with Senator Angela Alsobrooks on compromise text covering whether companies should be allowed to offer interest on idle stablecoin balances.
Politico reported in April that banking groups warned yield-bearing stablecoins could pull deposits away from traditional institutions. Crypto firms, including Coinbase, argued that blocking those incentives would restrict market growth and innovation.
Talks are still ongoing, but the bill must clear committee steps before it can reach a full Senate vote. Ethics language and stablecoin rules both remain unsettled, and bipartisan alignment is still required before the measure can move ahead.