Finally a regulatory win for crypto?
On Wednesday, The U.S. House passed the FIT21 bill, i.e. the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act.
This Republican-led bill aims to set legal rules for the digital asset industry, and would give more power and funding to the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) to oversee cryptoassets which are classified as "digital commodities".
This bill was publicly criticized by SEC chair Gary Gensler, citing that it would put digital asset investors at "immeasurable risk" due to the creation of new regulatory gaps. Following this, President Joe Biden also expressed his disapproval of the bill, though did not threaten to veto it.
Editor's Take:
What happens now after the FIT21 bill has passed the U.S. House of Representatives?
The U.S. Congress comprises two chambers - the House of Representatives, and the Senate. A bill has to be approved by both before it can be handed to the President to be signed into law (or vetoed).
Notably, the bill passed the House in a bipartisan manner with a 279 - 136 vote, garnering support from Republicans and Democrats. Next, it will need to be reviewed and have a "companion" bill put forth by the 100-member Senate. If a companion bill gets proposed by members of the Senate, it will still have to undergo review, before being voted in favor by a majority of the Senate in order for it to pass.
House and Senate members will then need to iron out differences between the original bill and the companion bill before going for final approval by both chambers. Then only would the President have 10 days to either approve or veto the bill (A veto could be overruled with a two-thirds majority vote by the House and Senate).
As you can see, the process of lawmaking from a Bill to an Act can be long, with no time constraint applied for most of the steps involved. While its passing in the House has been celebrated as a win, there are still many hurdles before it becomes law.
Nonetheless, the bill has been praised by the wider crypto community as progressive and beneficial for the industry, among other reasons being that it sets more concrete guidelines for what assets can be classified as digital commodities.
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