U.S. Regulatory Week Ahead

The Senate Finalizes Its Crypto Market Structure Bill, The SEC and CFTC Announce A Roundtable on “Regulatory Harmonization,” and Fed Governor-Nominee Miran's Surprise Announcement

September 8 - 12, 2025

Washington got back to work last week, and from what we are seeing and hearing, it is going to be a very busy fall in the Nation’s Capital.  

The move toward formalizing market structure legislation for crypto took another big step this past week.  Senate Republicans finalized their draft crypto market structure bill, which appears to have a number of differences from the House version passed with a substantial bipartisan vote in July.   While the Senate version explicitly divides duties between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Senate draft gives new authorities to the CFTC.   

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) is hoping to get the bill passed through committee this fall and, hopefully, reconciled with the House version by Christmas.

Also, this past week, the SEC and CFTC announced they are going to hold a roundtable on “regulatory harmonization.”   Seeing the two regulators playing well together is always a good thing but the announcement also set off a new buzz of speculation in Washington that perhaps this is a prelude to a possible merger between the two agencies, all part of a larger regulatory revamp expected by the Trump Administration in the coming months.

We may get some hints on that regulatory revamp on Wednesday when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent convenes a Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) meeting.  The announced agenda is pretty long, but regulatory reform is a key theme throughout it.

Finally, we would note that while the ongoing battle between President Trump and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook over whether he can fire her or not is now firmly bogged down in federal court, Council of Economic Advisors Chair Stephen Miran had is confirmation hearing to serve out the term of Federal Reserve Board Governor Adriana Kugler (which ends in January).  But Miran surprised senators and just about everyone else by announcing he intends to hold onto his job as CEA Chair while serving at the Federal Reserve – a move which has further stirred up the battle over the independence of the Federal Reserve. 

We expect the Senate Banking Committee will likely vote out Miran’s nomination this coming week or the following week (at the latest), and he will get a full Senate confirmation vote by the end of September, which means he will be serving as Fed Governor for four months before the term expires.

This coming week, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the state of deposit insurance and what needs to be reformed, while the House Financial Services Committee holds three hearings, the most noteworthy being an oversight hearing of FinCEN, and where efforts to curtail money laundering are going.

  Below are all the major events we are watching this coming week.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

U.S. Congressional Hearings 

U.S. Senate

·       Wednesday, September 10, 10:00 a.m. – The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Evaluating Perspectives on Deposit Insurance Reform.”

·       Wednesday, September 10, 10:00 a.m. – The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing on the nominations of Jonathan Greenstein to be a deputy Treasury undersecretary; and Donald Korb to be chief counsel for the Internal Revenue Service and an assistant general counsel in the Treasury Department.

House of Representatives

·       Tuesday, September 9, 10:00 a.m. the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions will hold a hearing entitled “Evaluating the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network” with FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki testifying.

·       Tuesday, September 9, 2:00 p.m. – The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Promoting the Health of the Banking Sector: Reforming Resolution and Broadening Funding Access for Long-Term Resilience”. They will also consider eight pieces of legislation for mark-up.

·       Wednesday, September 10, 10:00 a.m. – The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Proxy Power and Proposal Abuse: Reforming Rule 14a-8 to Protect Shareholder Value.”   They will also consider a number of bills associated with this topic.

Federal Department & Regulatory Agency Meetings & Events

Federal Reserve Board and Federal Reserve Banks

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

U.S. Treasury Department

·       Wednesday, September 10, 4:15 p.m. – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will convene a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council at the Treasury Department.  According to a Treasury press release, the preliminary agenda will include “The preliminary agenda for the executive session includes an update on the Council’s focus and priorities; a briefing on a recent interagency financial market infrastructure cybersecurity tabletop exercise; the Council’s 2025 annual report; and the Council’s fiscal year 2026 budget.*  The preliminary agenda for the open session includes an update on banking supervision and regulatory reforms; votes to rescind the charters of two Council committees focused on climate-related financial risk; and a vote on the Council’s fiscal year 2026 budget.”  You can watch the meeting via this link (HERE).

Department of Commerce

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

Department of Housing and Urban Development

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

Securities and Exchange Commission

·       Wednesday, September 10, 8:50 a.m. –SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce will discuss digital assets at the CoinDesk Policy and Regulation Conference hosted by Morgan Lewis in Washington, D.C.

·       Thursday, September 11, 2:00 p.m. – The SEC will hold a Closed Meeting.

Commodities Futures Trading Commission

·       Monday, September 8, 1:40 p.m. UK time – Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham will speak at the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain Technologies International Roundtable on “Best Practices in Digital Assets Policy & Regulation.”

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

·       Wednesday, September 10, 9:15 a.m. – Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould will discuss digital assets at the CoinDesk Policy and Regulation Conference hosted by Morgan Lewis in Washington, D.C.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

FINRA

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

National Credit Union Administration

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

Federal Trade Commission & Department of Justice Antitrust Division

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

Farm Credit Administration

·       Thursday, September 11, 10:00 a.m. – The FCA Board will meet to receive a report on Quarterly Economic Conditions and Farm Credit System Conditions and Performance.

Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

International Monetary Fund & World Bank

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

North American Securities Administrators Association

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

Small Business Administration

·       There are no significant events scheduled at this time.

Trade Associations & Think Tank Events

Trade Associations

·       Monday – Wednesday, September 8 – 10 – The Investment Company Institute holds its ETF Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

·       Tuesday, September 9, 9:00 a.m. – The Institute for International Finance holds an online event entitled Improving Supervisory Effectiveness - Assessing Concerning Trends in Bank Supervision.

·       Tuesday, September 9 – The Institute for International Bankers holds its 2025 Financial Crimes Conference in New York.

Think Tanks and Other Events

·       Tuesday, September 9, 1:30 p.m. – The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies holds a virtual discussion, beginning at 1:30 p.m., on "State-Level Remedies for the Housing Crisis."

·       Thursday, September 11, 9:30 a.m. – The Cato Institute holds an online event entitled “Right-Sizing Financial Regulation.”  House Financial Services Committee Chair, Representative French Hill (R-Ark), is scheduled to speak at 1:45 p.m. 

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