TL;DR
House Democrats are reportedly discussing a crypto market structure bill combining earlier consumer-protection proposals with provisions Republicans accepted before September’s failed Senate vote.
The emerging framework could give the SEC more authority, reduce the CFTC’s role and add ethics restrictions affecting President Donald Trump and other federal officials.
Possible provisions include stricter custody, monthly proof-of-reserve attestations, SIPC-like protections, 24/7 customer service and intermediary-style requirements for parts of DeFi markets.
House Democrats are reportedly discussing a crypto market structure bill expanding Representative Maxine Waters’ 2025 Crypto Investor and Consumer Bill of Rights. In a November 5 post , journalist Eleanor Terrett said four sources described a proposal combining previously rejected Democratic provisions with measures Republicans had accepted before September’s failed Senate cloture vote. The discussions could reshape oversight of crypto exchanges while reviving ethics limits tied to federal officials.
House Democrats Eye New Crypto Market Structure Bill As Party Prepares to Take Control of Congress
The proposal, which has not been made public, would expand the SEC’s authority and revive provisions rejected under the Clarity Act. https://t.co/W3E2l6jsrg https://t.co/t5xP0u9r4Z pic.twitter.com/zwHvi4oO54
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) November 5, 2026
Democrats Revisit Crypto Market Structure After CLARITY Setback
The reported framework would give the SEC a larger role and reduce the CFTC’s authority compared with the earlier CLARITY Act approach to spot crypto markets. It could also include ethics provisions restricting crypto activities by President Donald Trump and other federal officials. Those restrictions remain proposals under discussion, not enacted rules , but they revive the same conflict-of-interest questions that drove the earlier ethics debate around Trump-linked crypto interests .
Consumer protection would be another major component. The proposal reportedly contemplates stricter custody standards, monthly proof-of-reserve attestations, SIPC-like protection for customer assets, 24/7 customer service and limits on firms trading against their own customers. The package would move beyond agency jurisdiction and place exchange conduct, custody and customer safeguards directly inside the market-structure debate , echoing concerns Democrats raised when they opposed an earlier CLARITY Act draft .
DeFi could become a contested section. The reporting indicates Democratic policymakers may consider intermediary-style requirements for parts of decentralized finance, although no legislative text has been released. Any DeFi obligations are therefore speculative until lawmakers publish actual language , as earlier negotiations struggled over regulating protocols without treating software as a financial intermediary. That leaves questions about developers and protocol governance unanswered. That unresolved question had surfaced during the previous crypto market structure debate .
The initiative remains at the discussion stage, with no final bill or committee timetable. Some Republican lawmakers reportedly view the effort as a messaging bill, while supporters say proposals can influence later negotiations. The immediate development is a Democratic effort to rebuild market-structure legislation around stronger SEC oversight, consumer protections and ethics rules , not a replacement framework already headed for passage. No committees have announced hearings, markup or a vote. Its eventual impact will depend on whether draft language emerges and whether lawmakers can bridge the divisions that previously blocked the CLARITY Act’s Senate advance .
