The United States Congress seems to be pushing for greater regulatory clarity regarding crypto assets. So far having 18 bills proposed concerning blockchain and cryptocurrency during 2021.
According to former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regulator, Jason Brett, the current 117th Congress has broken from its predecessor in focusing on regulating decentralized assets rather than private stable coins such as Facebook’s Diem project formerly called Libra.
Congress put forward the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act in a bid to create distinct statutory definitions for digital assets and digital asset securities respectively.
Although the bill is yet to pass through Congress, the legislation would mandate digital asset securities as the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would have the authority to regulate digital assets.
Brett asserts that of Congress’ digital asset bills, The Eliminate Barriers To Innovation Act has made the most progress since being introduced in March. The Act aims to establish a joint working group facilitating collaboration between the SEC and CFTC in regulating the blockchain and crypto sectors.
