Today in crypto, a US Senate committee released a draft crypto bill, the US cleared crypto funds to participate in staking and the Bank of England opened consultations on its proposed stablecoin framework.
Senate Ag releases draft crypto market bill
The US Senate Agriculture Committee released its long-awaited discussion draft of crypto market structure laws on Monday, bringing Congress closer to passing legislation outlining how the crypto sector will be regulated.
The draft included brackets around sections of the bill that lawmakers are still negotiating, and Democrats said the Committee doesn’t have jurisdiction over certain aspects of it and are interested in working with the Senate Banking Committee to ”address issues related to noncontrolling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain services.”
The bill aims to outline the limits of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s power to regulate crypto. The Agriculture Committee has jurisdiction over the CFTC, and the Senate Banking Committee is leading parts of the bill relating to securities laws, as it oversees the SEC.
Democrat Senator Cory Booker, who helped lead the draft with Republican Agriculture Chair John Boozman, said the discussion draft “would provide the CFTC with new authority to regulate the digital commodity spot market, create new protections for retail customers, and ensure the agency has the personnel and resources necessary to oversee this growing market.”
US opens door for crypto ETFs, trusts to earn staking rewards
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the country’s tax-collection bureau under the Department of the Treasury, has updated its guidance for cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) to include a safe harbor for trusts to stake digital assets.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote in a Monday X post that the agencies released guidance offering crypto ETPs “a clear path to stake digital assets and share staking rewards with their retail investors.”
According to the guidance available on the IRS website, government agencies would allow crypto trusts to participate in staking, provided they are traded on a national securities exchange, hold only cash and “units of a single type of digital asset,” held by a custodian, and mitigate specific risks to investors.
“The impact on staking adoption should be significant,” said Bill Hughes, senior counsel at Consensys, in a Monday X post.
“This safe harbor provides long-awaited regulatory and tax clarity for institutional vehicles such as crypto ETFs and trusts, enabling them to participate in staking while remaining compliant, Hughes wrote. “It effectively removes a major legal barrier that had discouraged fund sponsors, custodians, and asset managers from integrating staking yield into regulated investment products.”
The guidance followed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in September approving generic listing standards, expecting to result in greenlighting crypto exchange-traded funds. The IRS and Treasury noted the SEC rule change as part of the updated guidance.
Bank of England launches stablecoin consultation, final rules to come in 2026
The United Kingdom’s central bank is moving toward stablecoin regulation by publishing a consultation paper proposing a regulatory framework for the asset class.
The Bank of England (BoE) on Monday released a proposed regulatory regime for sterling-denominated “systemic stablecoins,” or tokens it said are widely used in payments and therefore potentially pose risks to the UK financial stability.
Under the proposal, the central bank would require stablecoin issuers to back at least 40% of their liabilities with unremunerated deposits at the BoE, while allowing up to 60% in short-term UK government debt.
The consultation paper seeks feedback on the proposed regime until Feb. 10, 2026, with the BoE planning to finalize the regulations in the second half of the year.
As part of the proposal, the central bank suggested capping individual stablecoin holdings at 20,000 British pounds ($26,300) per token, while allowing exemptions from the proposed 10,000 pound ($13,200) for retail businesses.
“We propose that issuers implement per-coin holding limits of 20,000 GBP for individuals and 10 million pounds for businesses,” the BoE stated, adding that businesses could qualify for exemptions if higher balances are needed in the course of normal operations.
Regarding stablecoin backing, the BoE suggested that issuers that are considered systemically important could be allowed to hold up to 95% of their backing assets in UK government debt securities as they scale.
