Another
crypto
bill
has
scored
a
victory
in
a
committee
in
the
U.S.
House
of
Representatives,
with
the
panel’s
unanimous
approval
of
legislation
that
would
direct
the
U.S.
secretary
of
commerce
to
support
blockchain
technology.
The
brief,
13-page
legislation
isn’t
among
the
big-ticket
bills
that
the
industry
is
desperate
to
see
emerge
from
Congress,
but
the
so-called
Deploying
American
Blockchains
Act
marks
a
small,
forward
step
for
congressional
efforts
friendly
to
crypto.
It
joins
several
other
crypto
bills
that
have
–
for
the
first
time
–
cleared
committee
votes
on
the
way
to
the
House
floor,
though
none
have
yet
won
approval
by
the
overall
House.
The
House
Committee
on
Energy
and
Commerce,
in
a
work
session
to
weigh
dozens
of
bills
this
week,
voted
46-0
to
clear
the
legislation
that
would
direct
the
chief
of
the
Department
of
Commerce
“to
promote
the
competitiveness
of
the
United
States
related
to
the
deployment,
use,
application,
and
competitiveness
of
blockchain
technology
or
other
distributed
ledger
technology.”
The
bill
doesn’t
yet
have
a
counterpart
in
the
U.S.
Senate
–
the
chief
drawback
of
most
of
this
year’s
crypto
legislation.
The
Democrat-controlled
chamber
hasn’t
rushed
to
embrace
any
of
the
digital
assets
bills
and
is
widely
thought
to
be
unlikely
to
change
course.
The
best
bet
for
such
bills
could
be
negotiations
that
meld
them
with
other
efforts
into
larger
must-pass
legislation.
“At
least
on
the
tech
side
of
things,
Energy
and
Commerce
is
unanimously
in
support,
and
there’s
nothing
partisan
about
it,”
said
Ron
Hammond,
the
Blockchain
Association’s
director
of
government
relations,
in
an
interview.
“Largely
these
bills
have
either
gotten
looped
together
into
larger
bills
or
lead
to
agency
action
at
Commerce,
which
has
been
very
open
to
conversation.”
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