Stop Being Republicans’ Lapdog’ – Crypto CEOs Face Senate Fury as Bill Stalls

Democratic senators unleashed on crypto CEOs during Thursday’s Capitol Hill meetings, with one lawmaker warning executives to stop being ‘ an arm of the Republican Party ‘ as negotiations over the market-structure bill reached a breaking ￰0￱ of securing commitments or reassurances, the CEOs left with concerns that the legislation might drag into next ￰1￱ reported that “Everyone walked away with a commitment to continue work on this in a bipartisan way, but there was a distinct difference in terms of the timeline,” noting that passage this year would require a “ miracle .” NEW: A play-by-play of what went down at the Senate Democrats–crypto industry leaders roundtable that just wrapped, according to sources in the room: The meeting opened with 30 minutes of introductions from industry leaders, which one attendee described as offering “the… — Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) October 22, 2025 Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.

C.) told industry leaders he wants the bill through his committee before ￰2￱ CEOs Face Partisan Battle as Market Structure Bill Stalls However, Democrats rejected the imposed deadlines, demanding a joint, bipartisan drafting process that gives them real ￰3￱ their morning meeting, Democratic senators criticized CEOs for the industry’s reaction to a leaked Democratic proposal on regulating decentralized finance (DeFi). JUST IN: ￰4￱ propose a major crackdown on ￰5￱ could blacklist “high-risk” DeFi, enforce KYC on frontends, and strip dev ￰6￱ — Nathan Jeffay (@NathanOnCrypto) October 10, 2025 ￰7￱ Gallego (D-Ariz.) told executives he was “really f**king pissed” about how the leaked DeFi proposals were handled and warned: “Don’t be an arm of the Republican Party.” The frustration stems from Democrats’ DeFi regulation proposal , designed to address illegal finance concerns, being leaked to lobbyists and media, then publicly attacked by industry ￰8￱ CEOs also met with GOP lawmakers, but responses ￰9￱ Kennedy (R-La.) opined that rushing the bill would trigger backlash and reversals under future administrations.

“The worst thing we can do … is try to ram it through,” he ￰10￱ warned that moving too fast would produce policy “designed by a heroin addict with a socket wrench.” Crypto CEOs Claim Progress Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, however, told CNBC the talks were “very productive,” calling recent bipartisan meetings a rare positive sign. “There’s strong bipartisan support to get this market structure legislation done. It’s important for America and for the 15 million Americans involved in crypto.” DC may be shut down, but momentum for market structure clarity is at an all-time high. I sat down with Senate Democrats and Republicans who want to get this done – we're 90% ￰11￱ sides are working hard to figure out the final 10%, and we're getting close. @Coinbase is… ￰12￱ — Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) October 23, 2025 Armstrong claimed roughly 90% of disputes have been settled, with “the last 10 percent of issues” to be worked out once everyone meets ￰13￱ behind closed doors, divisions ￰14￱ Democratic senators were left furious.

Leaders, including Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, Mark Warner, and Gallego, confronted industry figures about Twitter reactions and leaks, demanding genuine ￰15￱ Booker reportedly pushed the CEOs to support bipartisan appointments to the SEC and CFTC , a contentious issue given recent executive actions to undermine agency independence.) October 22, 2025 In parallel meetings, Nazarov publicly stated that there was “ a sufficient level of Democratic support ,” noting that more than 10 senators were actively engaged and committed to shaping the final ￰16￱ Banking Chair Tim Scott reportedly wants a markup before Thanksgiving, while Democrats have rejected deadline pressure and insist on a bipartisan co-authoring ￰17￱ Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), a key backer of the market structure initiative, has also expressed confidence that Congress will pass the bill this ￰18￱ Markets Turn Pessimistic Outside the Capitol, crypto investors are losing ￰19￱ bettors now place odds of the CLARITY Act passing in 2025 at roughly 19%, down sharply from 87% earlier in the summer.), a bipartisan ￰20￱ effort to establish a comprehensive federal framework for… ￰21￱ — MartyParty (@martypartymusic) October 23, 2025 The bill addresses market manipulation, including wash trading, spoofing, pump-and-dump schemes, and insider trading, through explicit rules, stronger enforcement, and structural safeguards.