Crypto-friendly Republican policymakers Patrick McHenry and Cynthia Lummis provided the latest updates on digital asset legislation at Consensus 2023 — and they’re very optimistic.
The former believes President Biden will have signed the first bill directly establishing cryptocurrency rules in the next 12 months.
Progress on the Lummis Bill
During their roundtable on Friday, Lummis began by clarifying that the next installment of his digital asset regulation bill, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, will be introduced in the Senate in the next 6-8 weeks.
The legislation — co-drafted alongside Senator Kirsten Gillibrand — is designed to clarify regulations in many areas of the digital asset industry, including the classification of cryptocurrencies as securities or commodities.
Unlike its first draft published in June, however, this bill will include strengthened sections relating to protecting national security and combating cybercrime.
“We want to preserve the important part of the framework that ensures we have a well-understood regulatory framework for innovators and regulators,” Lummis said.
The house plans for crypto
Regarding the House, McHenry – who is chairman of the House Financial Service Committee (HFSC) – confirmed that the HFSC and the Agriculture Committee will hold the first joint hearing on the market structure surrounding digital assets in May.
Over the next two months, the group plans to produce a bill that creates a framework for digital assets to evolve from securities to commodities, and that creates room for some assets to not fit neatly into those categories. .
When asked if digital asset legislation would be signed by the president within the next 12 months, McHenry agreed. “I will be able to produce a bill outside the House – I am convinced of that,” he continued.
Lummis thinks the House will likely act first to push the legislation through the Senate, due to the bill’s failure to pass partisanly in his chamber. “It’s a bipartisan topic that needs to be addressed before the 2024 election,” she added.
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