Crypto’s big show in the U.S. Congress has been unveiled in the form of a discussion draft of legislation that would establish for the first time a comprehensive domestic regime for regulating digital assets.
The House Financial Services Committee and House Agriculture Committee — both sharing responsibility for the jurisdiction-hoping assets — released a working draft of a bill on Monday that Representative French Hill, chairman of the financial-services panel, said can deliver “much-needed regulatory clarity.”
“Today marks the first step in advancing a comprehensive framework that protects consumers, fosters innovation, and closes regulatory gaps in oversight,” said Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson, chairman on the agricultural committee, which has oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that will likely have a major role in crypto oversight. “It will give digital asset developers and users the certainty they need and have asked for.
On Tuesday, the digital assets subcommittees of both House committees are set to hold a joint hearing on the future of digital assets, where the discussion draft will be under the spotlight.
The draft details the public disclosures that crypto projects would be required to make. It also provides for digital assets developers to raise capital under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s watch, or to register with the CFTC to handle the trading of digital commodities.
The bill is meant to finally establish “clear lines” between the jurisdictions of the two U.S. markets regulators, a question that’s been a thorn in the side of U.S. crypto businesses.
This proposed format for the long-awaited crypto legislation, built on a similar first effort called the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) that advanced through the House last year, emerges as the industry’s allies in Congress have been working urgently on a separate legislative effort to regulate stablecoins. The stablecoin and market-structure bills represent the primary lobbying effort for crypto in the U.S., though advocates are fighting the headwinds of President Donald Trump’s own crypto business interests that have drawn Democratic criticism.
Stablecoin bills have already advanced through House and Senate committees and are awaiting consideration by the overall chambers.
Three of the leading crypto lobbying organizations issued a joint statement on Monday urging the Senate to get on with the debate for its version of the stablecoin bill, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. The leaders of the Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and the Digital Chamber asked for Senate support to “move us one step closer to enacting a bipartisan stablecoin framework.”
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