United States Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand have stated that the impending crypto bill will likely be held next year.
Discussions on cryptocurrency regulation within the US will be talked over by the US Senate as part of its Responsible Financial Innovation Act, aimed to address the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the regulatory framework surrounding crypto.
Senators Lummis and Gillibrand appeared at Bloomberg’s Crypto Summit last Tuesday to outline the chances the crypto bill will be pushed forward this year.
Lummis responded: “I think both Kirsten and I believe that the bill, in one piece, as a total bill is more likely to be deferred until next year.
“It’s a big topic, it’s comprehensive, and it’s still new to many US Senators and so it’s a lot for them to digest in the few remaining weeks we have in this calendar year.”
Along with discussing the future of stablecoin regulation, and tax treatment of digital assets, the CFTC will also be cited as a potential key regulator for crypto as it continues to work with Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow and Republican member John Boozman.
The bill will roll under CFTC jurisdiction in its current form; the legislation proposed by Lummis and Gillibrand defines digital assets as commodities.
Stablecoins have also been of particular interest to the duo Senators, drawing up plans for its regulation also a part of their legislation. Lummis notes that this legislation may be rolled into a separate bill from the banking committee which can be voted on this year.
“There seems to be some serious common ground forming, and just as Senator Lummis said, the two committees that have the most focused Senators on this topic are banking and agriculture,” said Gillibrand.
“Senator Wyden and his committee wrote a good part of the tax provisions in our bill.”
Senator Gillibrand also highlights investor protection as an ‘important’ aspect of the impending bill, a key factor which was stated by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler when discussing the potential crypto bill.
“There is additional interest now because they’ve seen that this is something important to do, that consumers are not being protected today, there’s no oversight or accountability, and there’s no rules of the road,” Gillibrand added.
“So there’s more urgency now, and also more of a sense that this is something we need to do.”
Cause for concern may have arisen during the collapse of the TerraLuna and USD cryptocurrencies last May. Terra suffered a dramatic 98% loss in value as it ultimately saw its demise, leaving investors with huge losses.
