GM, Joanna here.

With a curtailed schedule, and a looming government shutdown, the chances of crypto legislation being heard before the election are small.

Today, Congress is back in session after the summer — but only for three weeks before lawmakers break again to hit the campaign trail ahead of November elections. 

Government funding runs out on September 30, and a fight is brewing between the parties over issues like voting requirements.  

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has said he wants to pass crypto legislation before year-end.

However, crypto did not appear in a letter he sent to Senate Democrats urging bipartisan cooperation to avoid a “pointless and painful shutdown.”

Crypto laws could be bundled up into bigger bills and passed during the so-called “lame duck” session — the meetings that take place after an election and before the first day of the new Congress.

Lawmakers tend to use these sessions to pass urgent bills or tie up loose ends. 

Two market structure bills are among those in the works:

• The FIT21 Act, the brainchild of House Financial Services Committee chair Patrick McHenry, who is set to retire at the end of 2024. 

• A separate bill by Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow, which has been delayed. Stabenow, too, said she won’t seek reelection.

That doesn’t mean September won’t be busy.

Hearings schedule

Hearings are ostensibly one way legislators collect information before writing bills. 

However, they’re widely considered a waste of time — opportunities for lawmakers to grandstand and put on a performance by grilling witnesses, while the real work gets done in committee. 

Still, they can be a gauge of lawmakers’ thinking on a given issue.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler may get such a grilling toward the end of September on his agency’s enforcement agenda, which includes a slew of actions against crypto businesses.

Nothing is scheduled yet, but he’s apparently slated to appear before both chambers of Congress.

Some upcoming hearings: 

• The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a hearing on “Decoding DeFi” for Tuesday. 

• A hearing on pig butchering is reportedly slated for September 18. 

Reach out to me at [email protected].

ICYMI

• A judge ruled that the SEC must produce documents that could strengthen Coinbase’s defence in their ongoing lawsuit.

• The SEC and Uniswap Labs settled charges that the company illegally allowed trading of leveraged Bitcoin and Ether.

• The UK Financial Conduct Authority said in a report that it rejected 87% of crypto firm applications due to money laundering concerns.

Story of the Week

A win for Custodia Bank spells danger for American consumers, Fed banks say

Why are you so afraid of a woman-owned bank? That was Custodia Bank founder and CEO Caitlin Long’s question to the US banking establishment. She hit back as the US’s central banks said that Custodia risks setting a dangerous precedent in its court battle with the Federal Reserve.

Comment of the Week

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