Ripple flags narrow window for U.S. crypto bill as Senate markup nears

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Ripple flags US crypto bill

Highlights

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse warns odds of a crypto bill passing drop significantly if Senate Banking Committee does not hold a markup before the midterms.
The Senate agriculture panel has advanced its crypto bill, but progress in the Senate Banking Committee is delayed by stablecoin reward disagreements and concerns over Trump-related conflicts and illicit finance.
Ripple highlights a statutory crypto framework's importance, noting existing SEC and CFTC guidance differs by administration and lacks legislative permanence for the digital asset industry.

Senate timetable and legislative obstacles

The Block reports that Garlinghouse said at Consensus Miami on Tuesday that the odds of a crypto bill becoming law fall sharply if the Senate Banking Committee does not move to a markup. He says that once the process drifts closer to the midterms, the issue becomes more politically charged and less likely to be taken up again after the fall elections.

Congress has been under pressure to pass a sweeping federal framework for digital assets that would, in part, divide oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The House passed its own version, known as Clarity, last year, but the Senate process has moved more unevenly.

A bill must clear both the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Banking Committee. The agriculture panel has already advanced its version, while the banking committee has been slowed by disagreements over how stablecoin rewards should be treated. Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Thom Tillis reached a compromise last week that could open the way for a markup this month, although questions remain over crypto-related conflicts of interest tied to President Donald Trump and concerns about illicit finance.

Regulatory stakes for Ripple and the wider market

Garlinghouse says legislation would give the industry a level of permanence that agency guidance cannot provide on its own. In the absence of congressional action, the SEC and CFTC have continued clarifying their approaches to crypto, including through guidance and token taxonomy work, but those positions can shift under future administrations.

That contrast is central to the industry's push for statutory rules. Under the Biden administration, former SEC Chair Gary Gensler argued that most cryptocurrencies were securities and pursued major enforcement actions, while current SEC Chair Paul Atkins has taken a different stance.

Ripple's own legal battle remains part of that debate. The SEC sued the company in 2020, alleging it raised $1.3 billion through unregistered XRP sales. A New York judge later ruled that some programmatic XRP sales did not violate securities laws because of the blind bid process, while certain direct institutional sales did qualify as securities transactions. Garlinghouse says that gives XRP some clarity, but that the broader U.S. digital asset market still needs legislation such as the Clarity Act to establish how other tokens should be treated.

Coinbase’s stock recently came under pressure after CEO Brian Armstrong outlined a restructuring plan that included about a 14% workforce reduction to cut costs and reposition the company for the AI era. In our earlier coverage, we noted that the move highlighted how large crypto firms are adjusting operations while navigating ongoing regulatory headwinds in the U.S.—a backdrop that continues to shape sentiment across the sector.

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