Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives Propose Cryptocurrency Oversight Bill and Revise June Draft

Author: Aoyon Ashraf, CoinDesk; Compiler: Songxue, Jinse Finance

** Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a new digital asset regulation bill on Thursday, aiming to create a regulatory framework to protect investors in the encryption industry. **

Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pen., chair of the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement: “Today’s introduction of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act marks an important milestone in the House Agriculture and Financial Services Committee’s efforts to create a regulatory framework that protects consumers and investors and fosters U.S. leadership in digital assets.”

The bill, one of several introduced in recent years to create sweeping rules for digital assets, comes amid a perceived lack of regulatory clarity and a wave of aggressive enforcement that is prompting established cryptocurrency businesses to consider leaving the country and discouraging startups from setting up in the country.

Thursday's bill, first drafted in early June, seeks to chart a regulatory path for cryptocurrency exchanges to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and enable them to trade digital securities, commodities and stablecoins in one place.

“The crypto industry wants clarity, and our cooperation bill gives the CFTC and SEC a seat. Our bill establishes clear principles to ensure financial security and certainty as digital asset developers continue to innovate,” Dusty Johnson (RS.D) said in a statement.

Delphi Labs general counsel Gabriel Shapiro pointed to a change from the draft discussed in June that, in his view, "completely changes the bill's value proposition" and would reintroduce the ambiguity it was trying to resolve. "

** On page 10, the revised bill excludes from the definition of "digital assets" a range of traditional securities, such as stocks, bonds, "transferable shares," "interests or certificates of participation in any profit-sharing agreement," etc. **

As a result, Shaprio wrote on Twitter, a range of assets found in decentralized finance (DeFi) markets, such as Compound’s cTokens or Liquid Collective’s Liquid Stake tokens, “will be strictly regulated by this provision, even though [they] are not subject to existing laws.”

"The SEC can still continue the war...all they have to do is argue that tokens are 'transferable shares' 'profits' etc," he warned.