Two Republican-drafted bills were the subject of a recent hearing before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee.
The bills are to introduce stablecoin-specific regulation and to clarify and reshape regulatory enforcement in the digital asset space, according to a June 16 Coin Geek article. The latter bill focuses on more precisely defining the purviews of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while the former is linked to stablecoin regulation.
“A discussion draft that would close the gaps between our securities and commodities laws and provide much-needed clarity for digital assets,” Committee Chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., said in the CoinGeek article.
The U.S. House Financial Services Committee convened a hearing June 13 titled The Future of Digital Assets: Providing Clarity for the Digital Asset Ecosystem to address two bills that would regulate digital assets, the article reported. The bills were jointly drafted by Republican lawmakers from the U.S. House Financial Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee.
Expert witnesses testified before the Committee, but the consensus proved to be far from universal and views on the legislation were divided along party lines, CoinGeek reported.
The contentious question of whether an asset falls under the definition of commodities or securities was once again at the top of the agenda for the hearing, according to CoinGeek.
“Determining whether a digital asset is offered as a component of an investment contract (i.e., meeting the definition of a security) or falling under the definition of a commodity in the CEA has proven difficult in the United States,” the House Financial Services Committee wrote in its pre-meeting memo, according to the CoinGeek article. "Until there is a consistent, clear framework in place, market participants, consumers and investors will continue to seek regulatory clarity."
The SEC’s authority over digital assets offered as a component of an investment contract and the CFTC’s control over the spot market for digital commodities are established in law by the Digital Asset Market Structure Discussion Draft, also known as the discussion draft, which aims to clarify the respective jurisdictions of the SEC and CFTC, CoinGeek reported.
The Act would mandate collaboration between the SEC and CFTC when formulating rules governing specific terms and the management of dually registered exchanges, the article noted. According to McHenry, the draft legislation would cover how digital asset issuers seek funds for their projects, including strengthened disclosure rules, and would oblige trading platforms to adhere to tight requirements surrounding the segregation of user assets.
