Senate Ag Markup Begins; ‘Poison Pill’ Credit Card Amendment Dropped
Senators Marshall and Durbin drop the controversial ‘swipe fee’ amendment, clearing the path for the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act to advance.
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee convened at 10:30 AM ET today to markup the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act (DCIA), signaling the most significant advancement in market structure legislation since the GENIUS Act passed in July 2025.
The immediate signal for traders is not the text itself, but what was omitted. Senators Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) confirmed they will not attach their controversial credit card competition (“swipe fee”) amendment to this vehicle. This removal eliminates the primary legislative poison pill that threatened to tank the bill’s bipartisan support in the Senate Banking Committee.
The Market Structure Playbook
Chairwoman John Boozman’s updated draft focuses strictly on digital asset intermediaries, exchanges, brokers, and dealers. Unlike the broad scope of 2024 proposals, this iteration:
- Carves out DeFi: Decentralized protocols remain outside the immediate registration net, a victory for industry lobbyists who argued compliance was technically impossible.
- Sidesteps Stablecoins: Issuance rules were settled by the GENIUS Act; the DCIA focuses solely on the trading venues listing them.
- Jurisdiction: grants the CFTC exclusive spot market authority over “digital commodities” (BTC, ETH), reducing the SEC’s enforcement-by-lawsuit overhang.
Following the delay caused by Tuesday’s winter storm in D.C., momentum has shifted. The removal of the swipe fee provision clears the path for a floor vote in Q1, though friction points remain regarding yield-bearing stablecoins. The banking lobby continues to pressure lawmakers to ban non-bank intermediaries from passing yield to customers, a direct threat to exchange staking models.
“It’s time we move this bill,” Boozman told committee members, acknowledging that while “differences remain on fundamental policy issues,” the window for enactment is narrowing before the midterm election cycle heats up.
The committee is expected to vote on amendments through the afternoon. If approved, the bill moves to the Senate floor, potentially ending the regulatory turf war that has stifled U.S. institutional capital deployment since 2021.
