The bipartisan groups of senators who have been haggling over a cryptocurrency reporting requirement in the $550 billion infrastructure bill have reached a compromise, though it’s not yet clear it will get a vote.
The Senate hasn’t been able to agree to amend the legislation and if they don’t do so on Monday the bill would retain the original language dealing with cryptocurrency that has been strongly opposed by the industry and investors. All 100 senators would have to agree to voting on the amendment.
Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Kyrsten Sinema teamed up with Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis, Pat Toomey and Rob Portman to strike the deal. Toomey said the bill has the backing of the Treasury Department.
Toomey said the proposal would clarify rules on who is a broker for cryptocurrency and ensure that it wouldn’t sweep in software developers, validators or others. “We’re not proposing anything sweeping or anything radical,” he said.
Notably absent from the announcement of the agreement was Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, who had proposed a different version of the amendment.
— By Laura Davison and MacKenzie Hawkins (Bloomberg Mercury)
