As readers of this newsletter may know, the U.S. Congress has been debating market structure legislation over the past few months, but discussions on crypto policy encompass more than just this one issue: taxation, regulation of decentralized finance, the midterm elections, state-level developments, and more. Additionally, CoinDesk’s Consensus Miami conference next month will take an in-depth look at these issues.

You are reading State of Crypto, a newsletter from CoinDesk covering the intersection of cryptocurrency and government.Click here to subscribe to future editions.

Miami Dialogue

This newsletter has previously noted that major policy shifts surrounding digital assets have become extremely significant. Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the first major crypto-specific legislation. Regulators completely changed their approach to enforcement actions. Over the past few months, Congress has been debating not the broad outlines of market structure bills or whether we will have a bill at all, but rather more detailed issues such as the treatment of stablecoin yields.

In other words: the era of cryptocurrency has arrived.

Fairly speaking, this was true last year. Following the 2024 election victories, the crypto industry gained momentum, with Bitcoin’s BTC$74,869.45 price surging past $120,000 and legislation appearing imminent. This year, the situation has worsened; amid broader economic pressures, crypto prices have largely stalled, and the window for Congress to pass market structure legislation is narrowing. Not all news is negative: regulators have begun proposing rules for stablecoin companies under last year’s GENIUS Act, lawmakers are seriously considering reforms to U.S. crypto tax policy, and it’s clear the industry has become too established to ignore.

What happens next? The industry is still seeking tax reform to establish a de minimis exemption for crypto transactions, while hoping the Market Structure Act becomes law without imposing excessive burdens on the sector—and also looking ahead to the November U.S. election for a new Congress.

Next month, we’ll continue exploring these issues at Consensus Miami, our annual event that brings together nearly everyone involved.

You will hear from leading lawmakers such as Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Ashley Moody, regulators like CFTC Chair Mike Seeger and White House Crypto Liaison Patrick Witt, and congressional staff throughout the three-day event. Congressman Steven Horsford (D-Nevada), who recently introduced a revised version of the Equitable Act to address crypto tax issues, will participate in discussions regarding the bill. We will also host a reception for those interested in connecting on elections or the policy landscape.

We are relaunching Policy and Regulatory Summit: a full agenda and a dedicated stage focused on in-depth discussions of key policy and regulatory issues.

The policy summit aims to explore some of the biggest questions currently facing lawmakers, regulators, compliance officers, and/or builders, including how decentralized finance complies with anti-money laundering rules, how to handle taxation in the new 1099-DA era, the latest developments on the CLEAR Act, and how states are responding to this space.

We will host a series of events focused on the 2026 midterm elections, including how the crypto industry is engaging in the election and what we can expect after the new Congress takes office next year.

During this process, we will hear from experts deeply involved in the policymaking process, including Taylor Lindeman, head of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, former IRS officials Seth Wilkes and Raj Mukherji, and Lucy Hynes of the National Futures Association, among many others.

We will conclude the policy summit with a debate on a current national hot topic—prediction markets. Are they just gambling, or are prediction markets a new type of financial instrument? Who should regulate these products?

These issues may end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, but we’ll give you a preview of the arguments on May 7. Welcome (discount code in link) and say hello.

This week

Tuesday

• 14:00 UTC (10:00 AM ET): The Senate Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, Donald Trump’s nominee for Chair of the Federal Reserve.

If you have any ideas, questions, or other feedback on what I should cover next week, feel free to reach out to me via email at nik@coindesk.com or find me on Bluesky at @nikhileshde.bsky.social.

You can also join group discussions on Telegram.

See you next week!