U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has publicly urged Congress to pass legislation regulating the crypto sector, Reuters reports, escalating the administration's push to move digital asset policy from enforcement-driven policing to a statutory framework.

Bessent's appeal to lawmakers places the Treasury Department squarely behind congressional action on market structure legislation, which would define which regulator supervises which digital asset activities and clarify the jurisdictional split between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Treasury Secretary's direct lobbying of Congress signals that the executive branch regards legislation, rather than agency rulemaking alone, as the necessary vehicle for durable crypto rules.

Why is Treasury pressing Congress now?

The Treasury Secretary's intervention matters because market structure legislation has stalled at key procedural steps in the Senate, where competing proposals on how to classify tokens and assign supervisory authority have slowed progress. Bessent's public statement gives legislative proponents the most senior economic voice in the administration arguing that congressional inaction carries costs: continued regulatory ambiguity for exchanges, custody providers and token issuers operating in the United States.

Without a statute, the dividing line between securities and commodities treatment of digital assets remains governed by decades-old tests applied through case-by-case enforcement and litigation. Industry participants have long argued that this arrangement raises compliance costs and pushes development activity offshore. The Treasury Secretary's call for a bill indicates the administration wants that ambiguity resolved by Congress rather than left to the courts.

What would a passed bill change?

A enacted market structure law would hand regulators explicit statutory authority over crypto trading venues, intermediaries and token classification, replacing the current patchwork of enforcement positions. For exchanges and brokers, that means a defined registration path and clearer disclosure obligations. For token issuers, it would establish when an asset falls under SEC oversight and when it trades as a commodity under CFTC supervision.

The Treasury Department's role in the legislative push also foreshadows how financial stability and sanctions-related questions fit into the framework, given the department's authority over banking access, illicit finance controls and dollar-based payment infrastructure.

What happens next?

The immediate question is whether Bessent's intervention accelerates floor time for crypto legislation in the Senate and moves competing market structure drafts toward a single reconciled text. Committee chairs will need to bridge the SEC-CFTC jurisdictional split before any bill reaches a vote. With the Treasury Secretary now on record demanding passage, the legislative calendar — and the willingness of House and Senate leaders to prioritize the file — becomes the variable to watch.