Five major labor unions have urged the U.S. Senate to reject the pending crypto market structure bill, warning that it could expose worker pensions and retirement accounts to cryptocurrency volatility. The opposition comes just ahead of Thursday’s Senate Banking Committee vote on the legislation. The AFL-CIO, along with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), sent a previously unreported letter on May 9, cautioning that the bill “jeopardizes the stability of workers’ retirement plans, including public pensions.”
The unions fear that the legislation could allow digital asset markets to become more embedded in the financial system without sufficient protections, potentially shifting risk from crypto firms to working families. They argue that weak oversight could make retirement savings vulnerable to unstable assets. The AFL-CIO separately emailed Banking Committee members, stating that “embedding cryptocurrencies … into the real economy will have a destabilizing effect, while benefiting issuers and platforms at the expense of working people.”
The bill is also facing resistance from the banking industry over stablecoin provisions. The American Bankers Association (ABA) has expressed concern about a revised text that seeks to block yield payments on payment stablecoins. ABA CEO Rob Nichols called the language insufficient and argued it could “unnecessarily incentivize the flight of bank deposits.” Crypto firms, including Coinbase, support the revised text, saying activity-based rewards differ from traditional interest.
Meanwhile, Strategy founder Michael Saylor commented positively on the Clarity Act markup, highlighting institutional validation for Bitcoin and a framework for digital yield markets. However, union opposition adds new pressure on lawmakers already divided over security, ethics, and stablecoin rules, while making retirement risk a central policy issue ahead of the vote.
