Bipartisan crypto overhaul seeks to treat most digital assets as commodities and empower CFTC

cnbc.com:

As excited as Wall Street and Main Street were to have crypto as a new investment idea and store of value, the speed at which cryptocurrencies entered mainstream U.S. markets caused proportionate angst for U.S. regulators, who were equipped only with decades-old securities laws to police an industry many still refer to as the financial «Wild West.» 

But after months of research, industry consultation and bipartisan teamwork, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis said Tuesday that they are ready to debut the first major attempt to place guardrails around the nascent industry. 

Their bill, titled the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, amounts to a regulatory overhaul that would classify the vast majority of digital assets as commodities like wheat, oil or steel. As such, the bipartisan legislation would also leave the bulk of the oversight responsibility to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and not the Securities and Exchange Commission, as some had expected.

Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Lummis, a first-term Republican from Wyoming on the Banking Committee, said the legislation is the culmination of months of collaboration in the House and Senate and represents a critical first attempt to structure the markets for digital assets with long-awaited legal definitions. 

Their offices touted the bill as «landmark bipartisan legislation that will create a complete regulatory framework for digital assets that encourages responsible financial innovation, flexibility, transparency and robust consumer protections while integrating digital assets into existing law.» 

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