U.S. lawmakers have passed the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, as well as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. Here is what that means for the crypto industry.
On July 26, the majority of the United States House Financial Services Committee approved two crucial bills that could deliver at least some regulatory clarity to crypto firms operating in the US.
The first bill passed by the regulator is the Financial Innovation and Technology (FIT) for the 21st Century Act. It aims to clarify the differences in jurisdiction between the U.S. securities and commodities regulators (SEC and CFTC, respectively). FIT for the 21st Century Act is also an effort to establish a healthy balance between customer protection and financial innovations, just in time when a lack of regulatory clarity and aggressive legal prosecution of crypto firms discourages the industry players to maintain their businesses in the US.
Another landmark approval is the bipartisan Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. This bill, in its turn, is supposed to set out clear guidelines for “blockchain developers and service providers” such as miners, multi-signature service providers and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. Namely, it stresses that those blockchain service providers who don’t have custody over consumer funds shouldn’t register as money transmitters as is currently required by Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Although these landmark approvals are clear progress for the fairer regulation of digital assets in the U.S., the ‘win’ for the crypto industry is only partial.
Other proposed legislations, favouring the interests of the crypto community, such as The Digital Assets Market Structure bill, did not get the regulatory approval.
Democratic Representative Maxine Waters expressed the superiority of regulatory guidance from the SEC over the new market rules proposed by the bill: “… we don’t need to invent new regulatory structures simply because crypto companies refuse to follow rules of the road. Our securities laws have protected investors and retirees for 90 years while supporting capital formation and facilitating innovation.”
