A coalition of 12 Senate Democrats has set out a formal policy framework that makes its support for any digital-asset market-structure bill conditional on getting meaningful oversight roles — including confirmed seats — at the SEC and CFTC. The group says its conditions are designed to deliver a durable, bipartisan approach to crypto regulation that can survive future political swings.
The framework asks for a slate of protections and clarifications, notably: commissioner representation at the SEC and CFTC, stronger consumer protection, clear jurisdictional boundaries between the agencies, rules for issuers and trading venues, tougher guardrails on illicit finance, and ethics measures to limit political self-dealing.
“For digital assets regulation to succeed, it is essential that regulators have the funding and staff that they need. These agencies also require Democratic voices…only a bipartisan regulatory process will produce durable, balanced rules,” wrote Sen. Ruben Gallego in the group letter.
The Democratic cohort — which includes senators such as Ruben Gallego, Mark Warner, Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker — signals a willingness to work with Republican negotiators, but only if those minimum conditions are baked into any final bill. Several of the senators previously supported bipartisan measures like the GENIUS stablecoin law, marking them as potentially decisive swing votes.
Why this matters: a Republican-only statute could pass the House but would struggle in the Senate without Democratic buy-in, and even a narrowly partisan law would be vulnerable to reversal after an election. By pressing for representation at the SEC and CFTC and for strong consumer and anti‑illicit‑finance measures now, Democrats aim to reduce the risk of regulatory whiplash for exchanges, issuers and institutional treasuries.
Market context: the story arrives as major crypto prices were mostly flat — BTC and ETH little changed while SOL outperformed — and as some public companies update their treasury strategies in response to market and regulatory shifts.
Source: Decrypt. Read the original coverage for full details.