The U.S. Congress having proposed 18 crypto bills during 2021 so far, pushing for greater regulatory clarity

According to analysis from former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regulator Jason Brett, the United States Congress has proposed 18 crypto and blockchain-related bills throughout 2021.

Congress has put forward 18 bills on crypto in 2021 so far

This is the 117th time to date that the U.S. Congress has disrupted its predecessor by focusing on regulating decentralized assets rather than private stablecoins like Facebook’s Diem.

In July, Congress introduced the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act to create distinct statutory definitions for crypto and digital asset securities, respectively.

While the bill has yet to be passed by Congress, the law that would regulate digital asset securities is the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In contrast, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will have the authority to regulate crypto.

According to Brett, in Congress’ digital asset bills, the Eliminate Barriers To Innovation Act has made the most progress since enacted in March. The act aims to establish a joint working group to facilitate cooperation between the SEC and the CFTC in regulating the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors. At present, the law has been passed by both Congress and the House of Representatives and is currently awaiting Senate reports. The bill will now move to the House of Commons, where it likely won’t be put to the vote until later this year.

Not all of Congress’s digital asset bills have been well received by the industry. There were last-minute amendments to the bipartisan infrastructure agreement in July, including a sweeping definition of digital assets “brokers” that threatened to impose strict partner reporting requirements on network validators and software developers, as AZCoin News reported.

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