Key Highlights:
- The Senate released a draft of crypto bill so that clear market rules can be set.
- Stablecoin yields, DeFi protections, and token classification still remain disputed.
- Lawmakers may make changes to this draft before Thursday’s (January 15, 2026), vote.
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has released a 278-page bipartisan draft bill that is aimed at setting clear rules for how digital assets and crypto markets should be regulated.
The proposal is something that has emerged because of negotiations that had been going on for months between the Republicans, Democrats, and industry participants.
This draft has come right before an important key committee markup session on Thursday, January 15, 2026, where lawmakers will debate and amend the text wherever necessary.
🚨JUST IN: The full 278-page bipartisan text that has been the product of months of fraught negotiations between Senate Republicans, Democrats and industry has landed. pic.twitter.com/1MULKPJUuh
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 13, 2026
According to Eleanor Terrett, a well-known journalist in the crypto space, also posted on X and stated that there remains last-minute disagreements between Senate Democrats and Republicans around whether stablecoins should be allowed to offer yields and how certain types of tokens should be treated under the law.
Overall, the crypto bill is an effort to make sure that the regulatory uncertainty that prevails right now within the U.S. crypto market vanishes.
Stablecoin Yield Rules Favor Banks Ahead of Key Vote
The bill now also includes a stablecoin yield compromise that favors the banks. According to Terrett, the draft proposed banning interest earned solely from holding stablecoin balances, while allowing rewards tied to active participation.
🚨NEW: Yield update: Banks may have won this round on stablecoin yield. The latest draft (page 189) says companies cannot pay interest just for holding balances. You can earn rewards, but only if they’re tied to opening an account or activity like making transactions, staking,… https://t.co/Df3u3Ar3cM
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 13, 2026
With 48 hours remaining before Thursday’s markup, senators can still amend this proposal along with other debated issues such as DeFi protections and token classification.
Democrats Push Back on Rushed Crypto Bill Timeline
The draft of the bill has also added ethic rules that cover felony convictions and insider trading, and it also includes a provision that protects software developers in some DeFi-TradFi arrangements.
🚨NEW: There’s an incomplete draft of the Senate Banking Committee’s market structure bill making the rounds ahead of the official release in the next few minutes that omits the section on stablecoin yield.
What it does include:
📌Two small ethics provisions that fall under…
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 13, 2026
The draft also grants a special status to tokens that are backing ETFs by January 1, 2026, which means that XRP, SOL, LTC, HBAR, DOGE and LINK, will be treated like Bitcoin and Ethereum and they all will be exempted from extra disclosures.
🚨NEW: Here’s an interesting section giving some tokens classification as non-ancillary assets based on their inclusion in exchange-traded products as of January 1, 2026.
It says that if a token is the main asset of an ETF listed on a national securities exchange and registered… https://t.co/zYJzn44P4k pic.twitter.com/3CiGMeEW9G
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 13, 2026
However, amid all of this positive news, Democratic senators Chris Van Hollen, Tina Smith and Jack Reed have called for a full hearing. All of them have been known to have anti-crypto records and according to Terrett, they are expected to vote ‘no’ regardless of whether a hearing happens or not.
Also Read: CLARITY ACT Could Change U.S. Crypto Forever, Here’s How
