According to Reuters, the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee will vote this week on several bills to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, which will be a milestone on Capitol Hill in codifying federal regulations for the digital asset industry. Legislation the committee plans to consider includes a bill that would define when a cryptocurrency is a security or commodity and another that would establish a regime for regulating stablecoins. This would be the first time a cryptocurrency regulation bill has been put to a vote in Congress and a victory for the cryptocurrency lobby.
However, it remains to be seen whether the bills will receive Democratic support, which many believe is crucial to whether they will eventually become law. The measures may also face obstacles in the Democratic-led Senate, where Senate Banking Committee Chairman Brown said he was unsure whether additional legislation was necessary to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Patrick McHenry, the committee’s Republican chairman, said his first priority is advancing a cryptocurrency market structure bill that would expand the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) oversight of the industry while clarifying the SEC’s jurisdiction.