Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) released their highly anticipated cryptocurrency bill last week.
We read the 70-page bill so you don't have to. Here's what you need to know:
Although the bill is unlikely to be brought up for a vote due to the current political environment, let alone pass, portions of this bill are almost certain to be included in larger pieces of legislation going forward.
It's a positive sign the bill is sponsored by two Senators on opposite sides of the aisle. Neither political party wants to be seen as anti-crypto. That's a sure sign cryptocurrencies are here to stay.
The main purpose of the bill is to provide a framework for determining whether a cryptocurrency will be classified as a security or a commodity, and thus regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
This is important because commodities have a relatively small regulatory burden, but securities have regular reporting requirements that would be a death sentence for most crypto projects.
The other goals of the bill are threefold:
So is this a good bill?
It's definitely a step in the right direction. Until now, the text of the bill was kept under lock and key by the Senators' offices. Now, these policies and regulations will be openly discussed by Congress, regulators, lobbyists, and crypto industry insiders.
As we said, it's very likely that some parts of this legislation will ultimately become law as piecemeal add-ons snuck into larger legislation.