Representative French Hill, vice-chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, stated intent to bring two crypto regulation bills to the floor and pass them in early 2024. Hill told CNBC that Congress wants to give the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the tools to regulate crypto using a “fit-for-purpose” approach.
French Hill: House Financial Services Committee Intends to Pass Crypto Regulation in Early 2024
Representative French Hill, vice-chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and chair of the Digital Assets Subcommittee, outlined the committee’s plans regarding crypto regulation for next year. Hill told CNBC they intend to pass a stablecoin bill and a crypto oversight bill by early 2024.
Hill stated these bills aim to give the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the necessary tools to exert oversight over the cryptocurrency market.
He declared:
We want a fit-for-purpose regulatory framework, and I think that the failure is the CFTC and the SEC actually don’t have the tools to look at this new form of ownership and individual action, whether on the investment side or the innovation side, and so we’re giving them those tools.
The SEC Has Been ‘Asleep at the Switch’
Hill blasted the lack of action from the SEC on the FTX case, criticizing SEC Chair Gary Gensler for not working with Congress in issuing a regulatory framework with a legislative background as was recommended in a Biden Administration executive order signed last year.
He stated:
The SEC has been asleep on the switch. I don’t think you can solve this by trying to cram the crypto and digital assets infrastructure and ecosystem into existing laws and that’s what Gary Gensler has tried to do. I think he has failed at it.
Furthermore, Hill explained that passing these bills gives the CTFC oversight over the spot Bitcoin market from a regulatory standpoint, an element commonly mentioned as an impediment to getting an ETF approved. “I think it’s something that will benefit institutional and individual investors,” he concluded.
According to Politico, House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry is in conversations for these two crypto bills to be included as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). However, if this is not achieved, the committee intends to bring them to the floor before the end of this year.
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