A recent report revealed that the House Financial Services Committee had approved some bills for crypto and blockchain with their votes, consequently implying that the crypto-focused bills are fine by them. However, this development does not mean that the bills are welcomed on broader legislation, as per the report.
According to the report, the United States Committee for House Financial Services approved a set of cryptocurrency bills after a total house voting on Wednesday. During the Wednesday markup, the committee voted in favor of H.R. 1747 ( the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act) and H.R. 4763 ( the 21st Century’s Financial Innovation Technology Act) as they moved towards creating a unified crypto regulatory framework.
Furthermore, the majority of the panel (consisting of Democrats and Republicans) reportedly voted against a bill proposal on the market structure because it apportioned more authority to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They also stated that the bill has the ability to leave consumers with little or no protection.
During his opening remarks, Representative Patrick McHenry, who is the panel’s chairman, applauded the two bills voted for at the markup. He pointed out that the legislation would be the first to be approved by the committee as a necessity to prevent the United States from lagging behind other nations in the crypto industry regulations.
Critics Reject The Bills, Claiming It EmpowersThe CFTC Regulator As Crypto Oversight
In addition, he added that a vital issue was raised in the legislation which they newly approved, which was that firms could offer crypto that is not securities as an investment contract. He said doing so does not make the crypto a security. However, critics opposed the bill as they neglected the offers it presented.
One of the critics, Representative Stephen Lynch, stated to the committee that for his 20years long spell as a member of the committee, the newly approved regulatory bills were the worst sets of rules the house has ever markup.
Meanwhile, some Democrats in the committee were bitter because the approved law would give more power to the CFTC to oversee the crypto and blockchain system without an increment in the funding of the regulator.
In their perception, they reportedly believed that the Commodity and Futures Trading Committee (CFTC) is very lenient on the crypto space, unlike the Securities and Exchange Commission, which takes stringent and enforced actions on crypto entities. They believed that the leniency of the CFTC would allow fraud and crimes to abound.
Meanwhile, the Republicans who are in support of the bill claimed that CTFC would have the needed resources to ensure they efficiently perform their duty as they would be supported with part of the $120 million grants the Agricultural Committee recently received.
The House Called For Crypto Regulations Charity
In addition, they also encouraged their fellow policymakers not to resent the bill but rather applaud the regulatory clarity it could offer the cryptocurrency space. Also, they added that the clarity in crypto regulations would drastically reduce the brutality and enforcement actions of the U.S. SEC on the crypto industry.
Consequently, this would encourage crypto firms to remain in America, canceling their plans to migrate offshore to nations with crypto-friendly legislation, they said. Rep Tom Emmer further said the US would hugely miss out on the chance to be among the frontrunners of the crypto industry if they do not stop the SEC, causing g grave repercussions.
The House Committee reportedly voted for the two bills at the same time as when the Senate included the AML ( anti-money laundering) in a mandatory defense bill. The amended bill is now under review by the Treasury Department and other regulators for risk-focused evaluation.
The Cryptocurrency Council’s chair of government affairs, Brett Quick, stated that the policymakers are doing a great job addressing the issues about cryptocurrency and the AML compliance concept. However, she said much clarity is still needed in the crypto industry concerning which digital assets and projects are governed by which agency.