U.S. Lawmakers Push For Regulatory Clarity With New Crypto Bill

• U.S. lawmakers Rep. Patrick McHenry and Rep. Glenn Thompson have introduced a new bill calling for clear crypto regulations. 
• The proposed legislation would protect crypto assets from enforcement actions until regulators set up new rules for the industry. 
• The bill would also allow broker-dealers to take custody of crypto assets. 
• U.S. House Republicans are also calling for studies on decentralized finance and NFTs. 

U.S. House Republicans have introduced a new bill in Congress that calls for a comprehensive regulatory regime for digital assets and oversight of the crypto industry in the interest of regulatory clarity. The legislation, put forward by Congressman Patrick McHenry and Congressman Glenn Thompson, has emerged as the most important draft bill for crypto this year. 

New Crypto Bill Would Let SEC Decide Which Assets Are Securities

According to a report by Coindesk, the draft bill was unveiled in Congress earlier today by Republican lawmakers. In what is being described as the most important legislation for crypto this year so far, the bill meets a lot of the demands that have been made by the crypto industry. The proposed legislation would help crypto exchanges operating in the United States to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It would also allow the exchanges to trade digital securities, commodities, and stablecoins under the same roof. 

However, the draft bill put forward by House Republicans would also allow the SEC to continue having the power to determine which assets qualify as securities and remain under the regulator’s jurisdiction. The proposed legislation also stated that regulated crypto firms dealing with tokens or cryptocurrencies can assert that the assets and commodities. That would involve explaining the working of the concerned assets and proving that they’re decentralized by certifying that no one controls more than 20% of the assets. 

As per the draft bill, token projects aiming to be treated as commodities would have to provide details about their operations and go through a certification process with the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The bill would also protect crypto assets from enforcement actions while federal agencies like the SEC and CFTC come up with a new regulatory regime for the crypto industry.