Pelosi threatens to delay crypto infrastructure bill vote

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Wednesday that the chances of the infrastructure bill vote being delayed beyond Thursday had increased.

The complexity of passing the bipartisan agreement has grown. With Republican infighting on whether to back the bill, Senate centrist Democrats delaying the progress if it accompanies the social spending bill, and a refusal to back the bill from progressives unless concurrent progress is made on the larger social spending bill; Pelosi’s job to manage the legislation through the House by the end of play on Thursday seems like an almighty task.

The infrastructure bill contains key cryptocurrency legislation that would require brokerage licenses for anyone who provides “any service effectuating transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person”.

While the regulation on the table remains unpopular with the market, the possibility of delays to regulation is not especially ideal either. Without clear guidance on what regulation will be placed on the cryptocurrency space, there will be increased volatility within the market.

The vote on the infrastructure bill had been scheduled for Monday but was knocked back until Thursday when it became apparent that there was no clear consensus between the House and the Senate.

Within the last few hours, Pelosi has accepted that she may have to delay the bill once more but the intention is to hold the vote as planned.

The impasse has come along at the wrong moment for the Democrats – with the threat of the federal budget not being passed the likelihood of the bill getting passed may be waning.