US House Committees plan to hold meetings in May to create clear rules for digital assets. The meetings will be held by the House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees, the Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion Subcommittee, and the Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development Subcommittee. The goal is to create a bill that will provide regulatory clarity for the crypto industry. This work will add to the effort of a bipartisan bill led by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand.
On April 27, Representative Patrick McHenry and other committee leaders made a joint announcement stating that the US House Committees will hold joint hearings in May. These hearings aim to create a bill that provides regulatory clarity for the digital asset ecosystem. This joint effort includes the House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees, along with two subcommittees. They want to establish clear rules to protect consumers while not stifling innovation.
McHenry, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, spoke at Consensus 2023 with Senator Cynthia Lummis, and provided further details about the upcoming hearings on digital asset regulations. He said that the joint hearings, scheduled for May, will provide a comprehensive view of digital asset regulations and the market structure around it. This will be the first time that such a hearing will take place in the House committee.
During the Consensus 2023 event, McHenry emphasized that the joint hearings in May aim to create a bill that will provide clear regulations for the crypto industry. The goal is to supplement the work already being done on a bipartisan bill, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, led by Lummis and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, which was introduced in the US Senate in June 2022. This bill aims to address a range of issues including regulations for stablecoins, crypto taxation, and jurisdiction for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The Lummis-Gillibrand bill, which aims to regulate the crypto industry, has been delayed due to its complexity. The bill addresses various issues, including SEC and CFTC jurisdiction, stablecoin regulation, and crypto taxation. The Senators have revised the bill and plan to release the next draft soon, which will have additional focus on national security interests, particularly cybercrime. Lummis suggested that the revised bill will require certain registration so that companies are properly regulated and vetted.
In May, the US House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees, along with two subcommittees, will hold joint hearings to create clear rules for the digital asset ecosystem. They want to protect consumers while promoting responsible innovation. The hearing will focus on the structure of the digital asset market in the US, which involves how companies can raise money and move their products from being treated as securities to being treated as commodities.
