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(Bloomberg) -- A sweeping US crypto market bill is likely to be delayed by at least several weeks as key lawmakers shift their focus to potential housing legislation in support of President Donald Trump’s affordability push, according to people familiar with the matter.
The move by the Senate Banking Committee follows Trump administration calls to tackle costs for Americans ahead of this year’s congressional elections. The panel is likely to further postpone consideration of major digital-asset legislation, which was already delayed last week, until late February or March, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.
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Although Trump and top officials in his administration have made crypto a priority, housing is most Americans’ largest monthly expense and a key contributor to inflation. Concerns over costs are widely seen as a political liability after Republicans lost several key elections late last year.
Lawmakers are looking into legislation to carry out Trump’s call to prevent large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the private conversations.
Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing his administration to issue guidance preventing the government from backing or facilitating such sales. The order also directs the Treasury Department to come up with a threshold definition to determine which investors qualify as large institutions.
A spokesperson for the Senate Banking Committee declined to comment. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s not clear how much of an impact such a move could have on housing prices. Larger institutional investors own less than 1% of the nation’s single-family housing stock, according to some estimates.
Crypto Bill
Meanwhile, the shift to housing raises further questions about whether the Senate’s efforts to write a new law for crypto market structure will ultimately succeed.
Backers have touted the proposals as providing clearer jurisdictional lines between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the industry. Both regulators claim some turf over digital assets, but say Congress needs to clarify their roles.
Work on that legislation by the Senate Banking Committee was suddenly postponed last week after Coinbase Global Inc. pulled its support. That delay could give the various financial and crypto industry players more time to lobby for an agreement on legislation that can win wide support.
However, the Agriculture Committee will also have a say in any bill that clears the Senate. That committee released its version of digital-asset legislation on Wednesday and plans to hold a markup on Jan. 27. The draft was released, in a potential sign of trouble ahead, without the backing of Democratic Senator Cory Booker.
“While differences remain on fundamental policy issues, this bill builds on our bipartisan discussion draft while incorporating input from stakeholders and represents months of work,” Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman said in a statement.
That panel’s proposal will need to be combined with the measure under consideration by the Banking Committee before a vote by the full Senate.
