Teachers Union Urges Senate to Scrap Crypto Market Structure Bill

The American Federation of Teachers urged Senate leaders to scrap its crypto market structure bill, warning it would expose working families’ pensions to fraud, unsafe assets and “profound risks” to retirement security.

In a letter On Monday, AFT President Randi Weingarten wrote that the Responsible Financial Innovation Act would remove the few safeguards currently in place for crypto assets.

He said it would also include long-standing protections for traditional securities and allow companies to place shares on a blockchain without registering or reporting under existing federal rules. CNBC was the first to report the news.

The AFT is the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest unions in the United States. It represents approximately 1.7 million members, including K-12 teachers, school staff, higher education faculty, nurses and general sector workers.

“Rather than providing desperately needed regulation and common-sense safeguards, this bill exposes working families – families without current involvement or connection to cryptocurrency – to economic risk and threatens the stability of their retirement security,” Weingarten wrote.

The Responsible Financial Innovation Act is the Senate’s lead proposal on crypto market structure, seeking to define which digital assets fall under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It also aims to establish a federal framework on the operation of exchanges, brokers, customs and token issuers, establishing uniform standards for registration, disclosures, consumer protection and treatment of customer assets.

The discussions are in progress on how it could establish new compliance obligations for issuers and intermediaries, potentially creating a legal pathway for tokenized versions of traditional financial instruments to trade within a revised federal framework.

This week’s debate comes in a political environment already fraught with controversy, with crypto players divided over how and whether a market structure bill should move forward.

At the Blockchain Association’s annual policy summit in Washington, DC this week, Decrypt learned how groups that once operated together are now openly divided on fundamental issues such as Challenge processing, government visibility into acceptable peer-to-peer transactions, and what other compromises might be needed to get a bill through Congress.

Several stakeholders have withdrawn their support, saying they would rather see no bill at all than one that locks in concessions they consider untenable.

From the second day of the summit, Decrypt reported a growing gap between optimism expressed on stage and private assessments shared.

Senators from both parties said they were convinced that a new project could emerge within a few days.

Yet top Democratic negotiators, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), warned that the bill’s prospects have deteriorated sharply after indications that the Supreme Court may soon allow President Trump to fire SEC and CFTC commissioners at will.

“It’s a deep concern,” Booker said Decrypt at the top. “This is a massive expansion of presidential power. We’ve seen that.” [Trump] has already finished with this power, to benefit his friends in a very corrupting way.

With no Democrats currently serving in either federal agency and none expected until at least January, Booker said the absence of minority commissioners could pose an obstacle and raise doubts about whether a bill relying on those regulators can advance.

Earlier in October, the Supreme Court began considering whether to reverse President Trump’s decision to fire Rebecca Slaughter, a former Democratic FTC commissioner whose husband, Justin Slaughter, is working with crypto investment firm Paradigm to advance the bill.

Court to begin weighing Slaughter’s ruling suit. suit against Trump next week.

Decrypt contacted the White House, SEC, CFTC, AFT and DOJ for comment.