-
The
U.S.
House
vote
goes
279-136
to
approve
the
Financial
Innovation
and
Technology
for
the
21st
Century
Act
with
a
very
strong
showing
from
House
Democrats. -
The
passage
of
the
crypto
market-structure
bill
marks
the
industry’s
most
significant
legislative
accomplishment
in
Congress.
The
crypto
industry
recorded
its
biggest-ever
U.S.
policy
win
on
Wednesday
when
the
House
of
Representatives
approved
a
wide-reaching
bill
to
establish
regulations
for
digital
assets
markets,
recording
a
279-136
vote
that
saw
Democrats
crossing
party
lines
to
support
it.
The
Financial
Innovation
and
Technology
for
the
21st
Century
Act
(FIT21)
marks
the
first
time
a
major
crypto
bill
has
cleared
one
of
the
chambers
of
Congress.
The
issue
now
heads
to
the
U.S.
Senate,
where
its
future
is
much
murkier,
because
there’s
no
counterpart
bill.
Support
for
such
an
effort
remains
unclear
there,
and
the
necessary
committees
haven’t
done
the
same
level
of
work
on
crypto.
The
U.S.
has
fallen
behind
other
global
jurisdictions
in
establishing
crypto
regulations,
and
despite
the
win
on
Wednesday,
implementing
such
oversight
is
far
from
complete.
“We
need
rules
of
the
road,”
said
Rep.
Josh
Gottheimer
(D-N.J.),
one
of
the
Democrats
who
bucked
the
opposition
of
the
White
House
and
the
ranking
Democrat
on
the
House
Financial
Services
Committee,
Rep.
Maxine
Waters
(D-Calif.).
He
called
it
“well-reasoned,
thoughtful,
bipartisan
legislation”
and
argued
before
the
vote
that
“it’s
fit
to
become
law
if
we
work
together.”
Overall,
71
Democrats
and
208
Republicans
voted
in
favor
of
the
bill,
versus
3
Republicans
and
133
Democrats
who
voted
against.
President
Joe
Biden
opposed
the
bill
with
a
policy
statement,
though
he
didn’t
say
he’d
veto
the
bill,
as
he
had
recently
when
Congress
sought
to
overturn
a
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
(SEC)
effort
to
set
crypto
accounting
policy.
SEC
Chair
Gary
Gensler
also
came
out
strongly
against
the
legislation
in
a
lengthy
public
statement
arguing
the
bill
wasn’t
needed
and
endangered
existing
securities
regulations.
The
legislation
–
largely
driven
by
House
Republicans
–
would
establish
a
regime
to
regulate
the
U.S.
crypto
markets,
setting
consumer
protections,
installing
the
Commodity
Futures
Trading
Commission
(CFTC)
as
a
leading
regulator
of
digital
assets
and
the
watchdog
of
the
non-securities
spot
markets
and
it
would
more
clearly
define
what
makes
a
crypto
token
a
security
or
a
commodity.
Waters
argued
that
the
bill
is
seeking
to
let
the
crypto
businesses
who
have
been
dodging
securities
laws
avoid
responsibility.
“They
have
already
made
billions
of
dollars
unlawfully
issuing
or
facilitating
the
buying
and
selling
of
crypto
securities,”
Waters
said.
“And
Republicans
are
now
proposing
to
reward
these
illegal
activities
by
making
these
activities
legal.”
Prior
to
Wednesday
afternoon’s
vote,
the
House
debated
a
handful
of
amendments
to
the
bill,
including
by
Reps.
Greg
Casar
(D-Texas),
Brittany
Pettersen
(D-Co.),
Ralph
Norman
(R-S.C.)
and
Scott
Perry
(R-Pa.).
Casar’s
amendment
to
change
a
crowdfunding
exemption
from
$75
million
to
$5
million
was
defeated,
but
the
rest
were
adopted.
UPDATE
(May
22,
2024,
21:48
UTC):
Adds
vote
count,
removes
CBDC
bill
mention.
