Is a Regulatory Crypto Bill On Its Way?: Senators Lummis and Gillibrand Join Hands

Two Senators recently indicated an upcoming bill at a live Politico event that would concern regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies.

The forthcoming bill won’t change anything in the current definitions used by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for securities, highlighted the Senators.

Kirsten Gillibrand thinks it is something they can hopefully get a vote on by the end of the year.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and another Senator from Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis, are joining hands to work on a yet to be introduced bill that would specify regulatory clarity on cryptocurrencies.

Both of them teased the prospective bill at a Politico live event recently. The bill’s provisions are still not specified as the two senators continue to ask for comments from the stakeholders. According to Gillibrand, they are still at the beginning of the process. The result would be a broad-based regulatory framework for how this industry should potentially be regulated in the future.

All the clarified details about the bill are not revealed yet, but Lummis and Gillibrand highlighted that this forthcoming bill wouldn’t change anything in the current definitions used by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for securities.

According to Gillibrand, this is not the intention of their bill, and they will take existing definitions and parameters and then place different types of products in different places. And that it would also include a standing body that will make judgements as the industry further grows and parameters change.

Last December, news came in the limelight that revolved around the yet to be filled legislation from Lummis that would make it essential a new organisation under the joint jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC_ and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to look after the digital asset market.

Furthermore, at the Politico event, both the Senators highlighted that their bill would also be focused on empowering the CFTC with more resources for regulating the crypto sector.

This bill would also be focused on redressing the concerns relating to the recently passed infrastructure bill, which seeks to increase crypto tax reporting measures. This latter bill consisted of a controversial definition of broker, which left a few people unsure as to what types of entities would be needed to report user information. Lummis highlighted that this upcoming bill would clarify that definition.

According to her, the definition of a broker is altered to signify what actually happens on the ground with the developers of the software, the validators, the miners, and so forth.

According to Kirsten Gillibrand, this bill would be rolled out in several weeks, And at that time, it would go through various phases like committee, facing hearings, proposed amendments, etc.

She thinks it is something they can hopefully get a vote on by the end of the year. If they do their work well and the committees have hearings, and it has a chance to go through the regular order.

The crypto industry is witnessing a lot of thoughts from various authorities globally and it is to look forward to what the future would bring for the asset class.