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The crypto industry has been enraged once again; this time due to the US Senate’s decision not to amend the crypto bill that is going to significantly damage many of the industry’s participants. The bill itself, which was created as part of a major bipartisan infrastructure plan, is now causing many in the industry to even go as far as to plan rallies in Washington.
The bill’s heavy impact on the crypto industry required an amendment that would soften the blow, but unfortunately, the amending provisions failed to meet the requirement of unanimous consent. So, what will happen now is that the bill will go to a vote without any new changes. And, since it was already voted for once before, and that vote resulted in it being passed — chances are that nothing will change this time around.
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According to what is known, Senator Tom Carper put forth the amendment that was agreed by a number of other senators earlier. The amendment would bring clarity to what defines a crypto broker, as, without it, the bill would also include a number of parties in the crypto industry that are clearly not brokers, such as miners. However, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby put a stop to it with only a single statement, consisting of two words — “I object.”
What is next?
Now, the fact is that all is not necessarily lost, as the bill might still be modified once it reaches the House of Representatives, after passing the Senate for the second time. However, any amendments would require different lawmakers, and very likely different compromises, so the crypto industry can likely forget about getting the deal it was hoping for.
The new move was also commented on by Senator Pat Toomey, who seemed to be highly disappointed with Shelby’s intervention. Toomey has been among the leading proponents of the amendment, and he said that miners, stakers, hardware/software providers, and even developers will now be required to provide info that they don’t have and cannot obtain.
This will likely cause them to move out of the country or give up on their work in the crypto sector. However, Toomey also predicts that the authorities will have to consider and reconsider the issue again as it will ‘do a lot of damage.’
He stressed that the decision is going to stifle a massive amount of innovation, and all kinds of apps will never emerge because of it.