Analysis: The Crypto Market Structure Act could be passed within months, with stablecoin yields being the biggest point of contention.

On February 10th, during the Ondo Summit in New York, former U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry and White House Advisor Patrick Witt stated in a live broadcast that U.S. cryptocurrency legislation is accelerating, and a major bill covering crypto market structure is expected to be enacted within the next few months. McHenry predicts that the final version of the Market Structure Bill could be submitted to the President for signature as early as Memorial Day. Witt revealed that after the passage of the Genius Act, President Trump personally prioritized the bill. Regarding the progress of negotiations, Witt said that a recent White House-led meeting on stablecoin yield issues has reached new consensus on some key topics, while also clarifying the “red lines” that remain untouchable. The current legislation is moving from a principle-based consensus to drafting specific provisions, with the core goal of ensuring the bill can pass both the Senate and the House for review. Stablecoin yield issues are considered the biggest point of disagreement at present. Witt pointed out that all parties generally agree to prohibit misleading practices, such as promoting stablecoins as deposits insured by the FDIC; however, controversy centers on whether centralized exchanges should be allowed to pay passive yields on idle stablecoin balances. McHenry emphasized that DeFi is the foundation of cryptocurrency market structure legislation. Without DeFi, related legislation “simply cannot operate.” He noted that decentralization is the core reason why crypto systems outperform traditional finance in efficiency, transparency, and cost, and tokenized lending products are already significantly cheaper than traditional securities lending.