Two Crypto Bills Approved by a US House Panel, What’s Next?
- Two crypto bills were approved by the House Financial Services Committee on July 26.
- They are–the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act and the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act.
- Vice-Chairman of the Committee, French Hill, said that the bills were passed with bipartisan support.
- Another bill called The Digital Assets Market Structure Bill was condemned by lawmakers for favoring crypto too much.
Two bills related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies have been approved by the United States House panel, and many crypto enthusiasts are seeing this as a win for the digital asset sector. Interestingly, these bills revolve around the creation of a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies along with setting up clearer rules for the industry.
The two crypto bills, named the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act and the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, respectively, were approved by a congressional committee consisting of US lawmakers on July 26. This development in the crypto sector comes at a time when the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is following the “regulation by enforcement” approach for crypto firms.
The House Financial Services Committee approved the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act in a 35-15 vote. This crypto bill is focused on establishing the framework to decide whether a crypto firm will get registered and regulated by the SEC or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Moreover, this legislation also has a provision for allowing crypto firms to declare themselves sufficiently decentralized to register their crypto offerings as commodities with the CFTC.
Republican Congressman and Vice Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, French Hill, noted that he was proud the bill had passed its first hurdle and acknowledged the fact that the crypto bill passed the committee with bipartisan support.
“We have crafted landmark legislation that establishes robust consumer protections and clear rules of the road for market participants while keeping innovation in the United States,” Hill said.
On the other hand, the bipartisan Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, led by Republican Congressman Tom Emmer and Democratic Congressman Darren Soto, seeks to remove the hurdles that are present in the path of “blockchain developers and service providers” such as miners, multi-signature service providers, and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms.
Emmer was ecstatic with the passing of the bipartisan bill, stating that this was a “huge win” for the United States, adding that the country is now “one step closer to putting Americans in the driver’s seat in crafting the future peer-to-peer digital economy.”
Emmer added that his crypto bill “specifically deals with what blockchain-related entities qualify as money transmitters,” while adding that if it passes in the House of Representatives, it “will clear things up by affirming to the blockchain community that if you don’t custody customer funds, you are not a money transmitter.”
Additionally, US lawmakers were not keen on passing The Digital Assets Market Structure bill, despite approving the other two crypto bills. Republicans and Democrats said that the legislation ignored the importance of regulating the digital asset space.
“As I have said before, we don’t need to invent new regulatory structures simply because crypto companies refuse to follow the rules of the road. Our securities laws have protected investors and retirees for 90 years while supporting capital formation and facilitating innovation,” said Democratic Representative Maxine Waters.
As per an earlier report, the 2024 Presidential candidates are promising the establishment of pro-crypto policies if they are elected to power.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
