The crypto industry is running out of time to shape legislation before Congress takes a break, and everyone knows it. On Wednesday, executives from major cryptocurrency companies and their lobbyists gathered for closed-door meetings with Senator Tim Scott and other key lawmakers in what amounts to a final push before negotiations go on ice until January.
Last Call Before the Break
Senator Tim Scott, the South Carolina Republican who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, hosted the meeting with representatives from the industry's heaviest hitters. According to people familiar with the discussions, the guest list included executives from Coinbase (COIN), Kraken, and Chainlink (LINK), along with advocacy groups like the Blockchain Association and DeFi Education Fund.
Traditional finance wasn't sitting this one out either. Representatives from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association showed up, a reminder that Wall Street has plenty of skin in this game too.
The timing matters because lawmakers are expected to pause active negotiations until January. This week represents one of the industry's last meaningful opportunities to influence provisions that remain unresolved before everyone reconvenes in the new year.
The Bill That Can't Quite Get There
Senators from both parties have been working to finalize a framework that would define regulatory oversight of digital asset markets, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The effort builds on earlier momentum from this year, when Congress successfully passed legislation governing U.S. stablecoin issuers.
Industry participants had hoped for concrete progress before year-end, perhaps a committee markup in either the Banking Committee or the Senate Agriculture Committee. Instead, the timeline has slipped. Budget negotiations and looming federal spending deadlines are expected to make the legislative calendar in early 2026 even more complicated.
Where the Real Fights Are
Negotiations remain hung up on how the bill should treat decentralized finance platforms. DeFi regulation is thorny because these platforms operate without traditional corporate structures, making it unclear who regulators should hold accountable when things go wrong.
Democrats have also pushed proposals that would restrict senior government officials from maintaining business ties to the cryptocurrency industry. Those ethics provisions are widely viewed as targeting President Donald Trump, whose family has financial ties to crypto ventures. The White House has rejected claims that those relationships create conflicts of interest, but the issue continues to complicate discussions.
Warren Turns Up the Heat
As if negotiations weren't tense enough, Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, raised the political temperature this week by requesting federal scrutiny of PancakeSwap (CAKE). On Monday, she asked the Treasury Department and the Justice Department to investigate concerns that the platform may be promoting tokens tied to Trump-linked World Liberty Financial.
Warren's request sharpened tensions around enforcement and political influence just as negotiations stalled. It also raised the risk that talks could fracture further when lawmakers reconvene. The crypto industry has long viewed Warren as a hostile force, and her latest move serves as a reminder that regulatory battles aren't just about technical details—they're deeply political.
For now, the industry waits. January will bring a fresh start to negotiations, but also a more crowded legislative calendar and potentially deeper partisan divides. Wednesday's meetings may have been the last chance to make progress in a relatively quiet window. Whether that progress actually happened remains to be seen.