“Exclusive” Oversight – Senate Introduces Radical Crypto Bill As The Price Of Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Solana, Cardano And Dogecoin Swing
Bitcoin
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The price of bitcoin has helped the broader crypto market – including ethereum, BNB, XRP, solana, cardano and dogecoin – rise despite a dire warning that some other cryptocurrencies could go the same way as the experimental stablecoin terraUSD and its backing coin luna.
Now, a Senate committee has introduced a bill that would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “exclusive” oversight over a newly created asset class called digital commodities that includes bitcoin and ethereum while excluding other cryptocurrencies considered securities — a tighter definition than other proposed crypto bills .
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The cryptocurrency market is headed for a regulatory shakeup in the coming months as watchdogs … [+]
The Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022, introduced by the Senate Agriculture Committee this week, would see the CFTC regulate spot markets for digital goods, amending the Commodity Exchange Act without going so far as to define which cryptocurrencies are securities.
The Agriculture Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the bill as early as September, according to comments from Democratic Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and reported by The Wall Street Journal.
“These rules hold digital commodity platforms to the same standards as traditional financial institutions,” the Senate committee said in a statement. “Without appropriate oversight, customers will continue to be vulnerable to fraud and manipulation, and market participants will lack the regulatory certainty necessary to innovate and grow.”
In recent months, the battle between US federal agencies and congressional committees over who should regulate the red-hot crypto market has intensified. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Reserve have both lobbied for oversight of crypto, potentially increasing their budgets and influence.
The debate over whether some cryptocurrencies should be considered securities has been sparked by the SEC after it labeled a handful of digital currency securities as part of an insider trading case against a former head of product at crypto exchange Coinbase.
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The Bitcoin price has fluctuated wildly this year, playing havoc with the price of less … [+]
Meanwhile, there have been a flurry of bills introduced in recent months in an attempt to draw jurisdictional lines around cryptocurrencies. The Huge Crypto Price Crash This Year – Removes $2 Trillion From The Combined Value Of Top Ten Coins Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB
This week, newly sworn-in CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham pushed back on claims that the regulator cannot control digital markets, telling Forbes“it’s really important that people understand that the CFTC doesn’t just regulate the most complex products in the world.”
“The CFTC has brought more than 50 enforcement actions in the crypto space since about 2015, when we first came out with our action that said bitcoin was a commodity,” Pham said.
