The defeat dealt a blow to efforts to establish the first comprehensive federal framework for digital asset markets. Posted on September 15, 2026 September 15, 2026 The US Senate failed to advance comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation backed by President Donald Trump, in a major blow to digital asset companies and Republicans who had championed the bill for months. Trump’s extensive crypto interests are among the biggest obstacles to a deal. List of recommended 4-item storiesend of listFour Republican senators (Jerry Moran, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley and Thom Tillis) joined all Democrats in voting against it. The vote was 50-49 in favor. The vote effectively froze the bill as Congress leaves Washington this month ahead of November’s midterm elections in which Trump’s fellow Republicans fight to retain control of the House and Senate. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said the bill posed “massive risks to families, our national security and our economy.” “If the country suffers an affordability crisis, this bill will accelerate President Donald Trump’s ability to raise billions of dollars from cryptocurrencies,” he said. The defeat dealt a blow to efforts to establish the first comprehensive federal framework for digital asset markets and offered another illustration of Congress’ struggle to keep pace with disruptive new technologies as lawmakers grapple with an equally fraught debate over artificial intelligence. Tillis changed his vote from yes to no in a procedural move that preserves his ability to bring the measure back for reconsideration later. The dispute was not purely partisan. Community banks fiercely opposed provisions allowing rewards for stablecoin holdings, arguing they could pull deposits away from traditional lenders and reduce financing available to farmers and small businesses. Several Republican senators also expressed concerns about those provisions, complicating efforts by party leaders to rally support for the bill. who has earned more than $1.4 billion from his family’s crypto businesses, had urged Congress to approve it. Trump courted money from the cryptocurrency industry in the 2024 election campaign, calling himself a “cryptocurrency president.” Its regulators, particularly the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will now be in a position to fill the cryptocurrency policy void, but efforts to draft favorable rules for the digital asset industry could prove challenging. Industry experts have said that only Congress can create a lasting regulatory framework. Without legislation, regulations will be vulnerable to a changing political climate and court challenges, creating persistent dangers for the cryptocurrency industry, executives and analysts said. The Trump administration’s sweeping rollback of dozens of consumer and SEC surveillance policies introduced under former Democratic President Joe Biden has underscored that risk. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell more than 5 percent as the vote looked destined to fail, its biggest daily percentage drop since June. Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and stablecoin issuer Circle fell as much as 10 percent.
