The most viable piece of legislation sits in the House Financial Services Committee, spearheaded by Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who chairs the pane. The legislation was co-authored by Glenn Thompson, R-Penn., chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture.
Their discussion draft of legislation seeks to delineate agencies’ jurisdiction over certain digital assets and “strike the appropriate balance between consumer protection and encouraging responsible innovation,” McHenry said in a news release.
New legislation would grant digital-asset issuers an exemption from securities laws if they meet certain conditions and would exclude digital commodities and payment stablecoins from the definition of a security under the securities laws, among many other provisions.
“Congress has no choice but to thoughtfully move forward with legislation to clear up this confusion,” said Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association.
Perianne Boring, founder of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, one of the top lobbyists for the cryptocurrency industry, said the lawsuits the SEC filed against Binance and Coinbase are “arbitrary and capricious” and “the SEC’s vigorous enforcement in this space is politically motivated, opening up legal risk against SEC.”
She said Gensler’s public comments about the merits of cryptocurrency in the backdrop of the traditional financial system go outside the scope of his role as SEC chair to protect consumers and investors.
“They’re not a merit regulator,” Boring said.
Representatives from the SEC and White House did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment.
AP.
