Fox News congressional reporter Chad Pergram has the latest on the crypto bill’s delays on Capitol Hill with a ‘Special Report.’
It was a big building.
About megabytes.
And mega-dollars.
But, it was hacked – by lack of consensus.
The Senate Banking Committee canceled a scheduled meeting last Thursday to draft a bill establishing market regulations for cryptocurrency and other digital assets. This was the session’s long-awaited bill, which aides and representatives have worked for — and against — for years.
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But a glitch in the Congressional matrix derailed the legislation.
This was the legal version of Control+F7.
“It was a blow,” lamented Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., is one of the most ardent cryptocurrency advocates in Congress. “I feel like Flat Stanley after being run over by a Mack Truck.”
The Senate tried to shake up crypto.
But everything went wrong.
Another key industry player rejected the law.
The Crypto market fell sharply back in October as billions were wiped out in massive trading blackouts. (Silas Stein / photo alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“We’d rather have a bill than a bad bill,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on social media.
Armstrong then appeared on Capitol Hill after the Banking Committee held a hearing to elaborate on his statement.
“I felt a responsibility to speak for our customers and the 52 million Americans who use crypto and say that the current draft will be worse for them. I felt a responsibility to represent the customers. But I defer to the Senate in terms of the process about what happens next and in what order,” said Armstrong.
There is a conflict between cryptocurrency advocates and others in the banking industry. Banks are concerned that digital assets known as stablecoins could steal their business. The value of stablecoins is linked to other fixed assets, such as gold, the dollar, or the euro. Congress approved and President Trump signed into law the GENIUS Act last year. That measure established the regulations for stablecoins. However, the legal arrangement allows some stablecoin holders to receive “rewards” depending on how the asset performs.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase Global Inc., during a television interview on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. The Senate Banking Committee delayed its discussion of the digital-asset bill during the debate. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
These rewards are actually “interest.” And the returns can be higher than what an investor would make with an interest-bearing checking or savings account at a regular bank. Some in the banking industry have pushed lawmakers to remove that provision from the law — even though the President recently signed it.
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These demands angered some members of the Banking Committee. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, suggested that old-style banking regulations are behind the digital times.
“They have to adapt to the innovation community. If they can’t, they have to live with the status quo,” said Moreno.
It is worth noting that cryptocurrency played a role in the election of Moreno in 2024. Moreno defeated former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Brown chaired the Banking Committee. Crypto-backed superPACs have poured $40 million into the Moreno/Brown race in hopes of winning the Banking Committee Chair. Brown was skeptical about crypto and the controversial regulations being pushed by the industry. Moreno’s win is perhaps the crypto lobby’s greatest success in electoral politics.
Regardless, crypto legislation is on the shelf. One source close to the process described it as “dirty.” Sen. Thom Tillis, RN.C., retired, predicted that the panel will hold a successful markup of crypto legislation “in the first quarter of this year.” Lummis is also retiring early next year. And if nothing happens soon, it’s possible the Wyoming Republican could leave the Senate without action on his landmark issue.
“All it does is reset the clock a little bit,” Lummis said of the committee’s withdrawal. “I have 11 more months to work on this and make it and make it better.”
Brian Armstrong, founder and CEO of Coinbase Inc., speaks during the Singapore Fintech Festival, in Singapore, on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. (Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
It’s only January. But the mid-term election calendar has become a threat as interest groups have worked hard for years on the bill – only to end in an adjourned session of the bill.
“What’s happening? It’s two more years where the US is not leading the crypto market around the world. And it’s very important for US consumers, the US economy, our national security, for the US to be the dominant crypto market,” said Blockchain Association CEO Peter Smith on FOX Business. “If this does not pass now – and it has already been worked on for a year and a half – that will lead to a significant delay after the mid-term goals. This means, in fact, two years of delay.”
Lawmakers tracking crypto regulation worry that the US is lagging behind.
“We want to be the center of the world economy for the next generation. We can’t do that if we don’t get this right,” said Rep. William Timmons, RS.C.
Timmons suggested that cryptocurrency will be a “very disruptive technology” that will change everything in our financial system. Timmons says “tens of billions of dollars will come back to the US” if Congress enacts a good deal. Otherwise, everything related to crypto may go overseas. That threatens the US economy and the American banking system.
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“People should care because if we don’t get it right, it could disrupt their normal banking system,” Tillis said, adding that the US is the “gold standard” of banking around the world.
“If we want to continue to do that, we also have to make crypto right because, without a doubt, it is part of the future of high-end banking,” Tillis said.
But there are others who want to get rid of cryptocurrency altogether.
“The advantage of crypto – and they put it right in the name – is that it is literally a hidden currency,” said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif.
He argues that crypto is a haven for crime and tax evasion.
The US flag flies in front of the US Capitol dome on Dec.16, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
“Obviously, we would be better off without it. Not every invention is useful,” Sherman said.
But House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., says the technology behind cryptocurrencies makes it easy to track. So, it is difficult to use for crime.
“Criminals’ choice is actually money,” Hill said. “Drug sales and smuggling are still often done in cash. The same goes for commercial-based money laundering. Or even a bunch of gift cards bought at retail stores.”
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The New York Stock Exchange recently announced that it is launching a trading platform for “tokenized” securities, such as crypto. The market will run on blockchain technology, the backbone of cryptocurrencies. The exchange would be immediate. Most trades on Wall Street today are not completed until the next business day. And this service will be open 24/7. Not just during the normal weekday trading session.
The point is that the free market is ahead of Congress. Capitol Hill is an analog place. Not digital. And the US could fall far behind if lawmakers continue to crack down on crypto.
