The US Senate Banking Committee’s planned markup of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act was postponed late Wednesday, and decentralized finance leaders used the delay to press lawmakers over potential harms to DeFi and developers. Tim Scott announced the brief pause after industry objections stalled the schedule.
Industry groups warned the bill’s tokenized equity and stablecoin rules could squeeze DeFi platforms and push firms offshore. DeFi Education Fund said “some proposed amendments could ‘seriously harm DeFi technology and/or make market structure legislation worse for software developers.'”
Crypto investors and lawyers called for clearer developer protections and edits to avoid forcing inappropriate compliance on infrastructure. Alexander Grieve said protecting developers and DeFi is the highest priority and that the bill needs “significant edits”. Jake Chervinsky warned “The last draft leaves ambiguity about whether all sorts of developers and infrastructure providers could be forced to KYC users, register with SEC, or comply with other rules that don’t fit DeFi.”
Supporters of stricter stablecoin rules, including some banks, clash with DeFi advocates over whether interest-bearing stablecoins should be banned. Todd Phillips argued “They care about having a robust market structure that allows crypto markets to grow.”
Some Senate Democrats have pressed for tighter anti-money-laundering limits on DeFi activity, according to reporting. (Ed. note: No new markup date has been set.)
