The U.S. Senate has taken an important step toward regulating digital asset markets. On Thursday, the Senate Agriculture Committee voted to advance a major digital asset market structure bill. The bill, titled “Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act,” is considered to be a part of the broader CLARITY Act.

This is the furthest such legislation has ever gone in the Senate, but the vote also showed deep political divisions that could block the bill later.

The bill passed the committee by a 12–11 party-line vote. All Republican senators voted in favor, and all Democrats voted against it. Because of this split, the bill moves forward without any Democratic support, which is a serious problem since Senate rules require bipartisan backing for final passage.

This legislation is part of the broader Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, which aims to create clear rules for how digital asset markets are regulated in the United States.

Supporters say the lack of clear rules has hurt investors and slowed innovation. Critics say the current version does not go far enough to protect consumers or prevent conflicts of interest.

The portion approved by the Agriculture Committee focuses on digital assets treated as commodities. The Senate Agriculture Committee oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the bills passing would give the CFTC authority over spot markets and the companies that operate in them, such as exchanges, brokers, and custodians for “digital commodities.”

Since bitcoin is often classified as a commodity, the Senate Agriculture Committee is actually the committee that can move the bill forward.

According to Eleanor Terrett, journalist for Crypto in America, Committee Chairman Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) said the vote reflects months of work and negotiation. “After months of work, we have made significant progress, really significant progress working together,” Boozman said. “Now it’s time to move this process forward.”

He argued that the bill creates clearer definitions, basic consumer protections, and rules to manage conflicts of interest.

Democrats, however, said the bill no longer reflects the bipartisan draft they helped negotiate last year. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), one of the lead Democratic negotiators, said Republicans changed the bill after negotiations ended.

“The product before us today is not the bipartisan draft that we were working on,” Booker said. He added that Republicans had “walked away from the bipartisan process” after the November draft.

A major point of disagreement was ethics. Democrats proposed amendments that would prevent the president, members of Congress, and certain family members from profiting from digital assets while in office. All of those amendments failed along party lines.

Booker strongly criticized President Donald Trump’s involvement in “crypto-related” business. He said:

Booker added that the bill lacks safeguards to prevent corruption.

Other Democratic amendments also failed. These included proposals to strengthen consumer protections, address digital asset ATM fraud, improve bankruptcy rules for digital asset firms, and prevent government bailouts of failing companies in the sector.

Senator Cynthia Lummis welcomed the outcome of the committee’s vote, sharing her reaction on X. She said, “Great to see digital asset market structure pass [the Senate Agriculture Committee.]”

Democrats also raised concerns about regulation and oversight. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said progress has been made but more work is needed. “The progress that has been made here is good, but I think we believe that we’re not quite done yet,” Klobuchar said. “I hope we can continue to negotiate as this bill moves forward,” stressing the need for better ethics rules and stronger consumer protections.

Some lawmakers pointed to problems at the CFTC itself. The agency currently has only one confirmed commissioner.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) warned that giving major new authority to an understaffed agency could weaken oversight and reduce public trust. “We can’t give this CFTC this broad new authority when it only has one member,” she said.

The digital asset industry welcomed the committee vote but acknowledged that the fight is far from over. Ji Hun Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, said, “This bill would provide CFTC spot market authority for digital commodities, clear rules for intermediaries, and robust consumer protections.”

Others emphasized that bipartisan cooperation is still necessary for success. “Merging this with the Banking Committee’s text—and doing so on a bipartisan basis—is the only way to get this over the finish line,” said Kevin Wysocki, head of policy at Anchorage Digital.