In a whirlwind of events during the Senate Banking Committee's vote to advance landmark crypto legislation on Thursday, the cryptocurrency industry is celebrating, ethics talks are continuing to progress, and some are criticizing the push as the bill now barrels toward a full Senate vote in the coming weeks.
During a Senate Banking Committee markup earlier in the day, lawmakers voted 15-9 to advance its version of a crypto market structure bill. The vote had been expected to be partisan, but two key negotiators, Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks, voted in favor of the bill — with the caveat that a few issues be resolved around law enforcement and financial crimes and ethics when it comes to federal officials' crypto use.
Ethics in particular has become a big make-or-break issue for Democrats on whether they will support the bill amid concerns of President Donald Trump and his family's crypto ventures.
During the markup, Gallego said that if the ethics piece was not resolved — language that would prevent the president, vice president, and other federal officials and their families from making certain financial transactions involving digital assets — he will vote no in the future when the bill goes to the Senate floor.
