The bill addresses many thorny issues with regards to cryptocurrency regulation, such as delineations between CFTC and SEC jurisdictions, stablecoin collateralization requirements, and the treatment of digital assets for tax purposes.
The goal of the bill is to generate more flexibility, innovation, consumer protection, and transparency while providing more certainty and clarity to the growing digital assets industry.Gary Gensler, Chairman SECThe cryptocurrency industry has long asked for more regulatory clarity, especially in terms of which projects fall under SEC jurisdiction as securities and those that are part of the CFTC’s jurisdiction as commodities.
Still, the long legislative process makes it unlikely that the bill will pass this year, as there will be time for the industry to comment over the next six months and the bill will continue to be refined. It is expected that the bipartisan legislation will go through the Senate's Banking, Agriculture,Intelligence and Banking Committees and then the equivalent committees in the House. Under these committees, the bill may move forward as a whole or in different parts.
But others have started to voice concerns focusing on the CFTC’s capability to administer its growing powers. Dennis Kelleher, a co-founder of Better Markets, a prominent financial reform advocacy group and who served on President Joe Biden’s transition team, said that handing crypto regulation to the CFTC is a deliberate attempt to shove responsibility onto an agency that Congress has left without resources for years.