Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., said he feels "very strongly" about reaching Senate agreement — likely this year — on a cryptocurrency market structure bill, even after Democrats backed out of supporting the version his committee advanced last week.
"Everybody is really working hard right now and I think getting it through a committee has kind of shown that we can make some momentum and that's been a good thing," Boozman said in an interview Tuesday with CNBC.
Boozman's committee has been working to create a national regulatory structure under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for the burgeoning industry. The next step would be the Senate Banking Committee approving its version of a crypto market structure bill. That committee's hearing on the text was postponed from Jan. 15 at the last minute after opposition from the crypto industry.
The Republican senator had worked with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., on a draft bill last year. Booker walked away from the version the Senate Agriculture Committee voted on, saying during the Jan. 29 hearing that the measure differed from the bipartisan version the committee laid out in November. Booker's office said the senator was not available for an interview.
At the hearing, Booker said Democratic concerns with the bill include the fact that President Donald Trump "is grifting on crypto himself," which he called "ridiculous."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment about Democrats' concerns. In past statements, a White House spokesperson told CNBC that "there are no conflicts of interest."
During the hearing, Democrats offered amendments that would have included banning public officials –including the president – from engaging in the crypto industry, preventing scams linked to crypto ATMs and addressing involvement in digital commodities from foreign adversaries. None were approved.
The Agriculture Committee voted along party lines Jan. 29 to advance its version of the bill. The legislation builds on the bipartisan CLARITY Act, the crypto market structure bill the House of Representatives passed last summer.