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US House Passes Crypto FIT21 Act With Wave of Democratic Support
The cryptocurrency industry recorded its biggest political victory ever in the United States on Wednesday, when the House of Representatives passed a far-reaching bill to establish regulations for digital asset markets, recording a vote of 279- 136 that saw Democrats cross party lines to support him.
The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) marks the first time a major cryptocurrency bill has gotten the green light from either house of Congress. The issue now goes to the U.S. Senate, where its future is much murkier because there is no counterpart law. Support for such an effort is not yet clear, and the necessary committees have not done the same level of work on cryptocurrencies.
The United States has lagged other global jurisdictions in establishing cryptocurrency regulations, and despite Wednesday’s victory, implementation of that oversight is far from complete.
“We need rules of the road,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (DN.J.), one of the overruling Democrats from the White House and the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, the Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D -California). She called it “well-reasoned, thoughtful, bipartisan legislation” and argued before the vote that “it is fit to become law if we work together.”
Overall, 71 Democrats and 208 Republicans voted for the bill, compared to 3 Republicans and 133 Democrats who voted against it.
President Joe Biden opposed the bill in a policy statement, though he did not say he would veto the bill, as he had recently done when Congress tried to overturn a Securities and Exchange Commission effort (SEC) to establish a crypto accounting policy. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler also walked out strongly opposed to the legislation in a lengthy public statement arguing that the bill was unnecessary and endangered existing securities regulations.
The legislation, largely led by House Republicans, would establish a regime to regulate U.S. cryptocurrency markets, protecting consumers and installing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as the primary regulator of digital assets and a watchdog of unsecured spot markets. financial. and would more clearly define what makes a cryptographic token a security or commodity.
Waters argued that the bill aims to allow cryptocurrency companies that have circumvented securities laws to escape liability.
“They have already made billions of dollars by illegally issuing or facilitating the purchase and sale of crypto securities,” Waters said. “And Republicans are now proposing to reward these illegal activities by making them legal.”
Before Wednesday afternoon’s vote, the House debated a handful of amendments to the bill, including from representatives. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Brittany Pettersen (D-Co.), Ralph Norman (RS.C.) e Scott Perry (R-Pa.). Casar’s amendment to change the crowdfunding exemption from $75 million to $5 million was rejected, but the remainder was adopted.
UPDATE (May 22, 2024, 9:48 PM UTC): Adds vote count, removes mention of CBDC bill.