Lawmakers from the US gathered to vote on a crypto bill, called the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act. In a rather historic moment, 279 of the 136 members of the US House of Representatives gave the green light to this bill on May 22. In the USA, the House of Representatives is responsible for passing laws and it, together with the US Senate, make up the two houses of Congress.
The US has finally joined the list of nations — along with India, Japan and South Korea among others — working to bring the volatile and exploitable digital asset sector under regulatory scrutiny. Bill FIT21 aims to clarify which bodies have how much control over the crypto sector, so that the sector is secured, but not at the cost of slowing its growth.
The FIT21 bill reportedly contains different definitions for different categories of crypto assets, so that exchanges know which assets are considered securities. This clarification would prevent crypto exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase from running afoul of the SEC, which affects the growth of the crypto sector.
It further ensures that oversight of the digital asset industry is split between the Commodity Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to reports, the CFTC may see greater involvement in crypto oversight compared to the SEC, which has been repeatedly accused of attacking the crypto sector under Gary Gensler.
Gensler voiced his opposition to the bill, reportedly saying, “The crypto industry’s record of failure, fraud and bankruptcy is not because we don’t have rules or because the rules are unclear. This is because many players in the crypto industry do not play by the rules.”
However, players and stakeholders from the US crypto industry are celebrating the passage of the FIT21 legislation. Coinbase CEO Brain Armstrong, along with others, announced the development on X, with many calling the vote ‘historic’ for the crypto industry.
Today’s historic vote on the FIT21 bill in the House of Representatives, which will finally begin to create some clear rules for regulating crypto (if it becomes law).
Americans want to know that their representatives are protecting their rights to use crypto, creating clear rules for…
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) May 22, 2024
FIT21 passes house 279 – 136 :then:
The Democrats of the House of Representatives voted for this law: 71.
That’s a *large* number of elected Democrats voting “no confidence” in the current SEC and sending a message to the Biden administration that “anti-crypto” is the losing platform this year. pic.twitter.com/zmlD1VRQfF
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) May 22, 2024
Today, the House of Representatives made history by passing the Law on Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21). The success of FIT21 is proof that protection of blockchain technology in the US has strong bipartisan support.
It is an important step in providing…
— cdixon.eth (@cdixon) May 22, 2024
The bill will now move to the Senate for approval, after which it will be signed into law.
Against the backdrop of these developments, the cryptocurrency price chart showed gains alongside most cryptocurrencies on Thursday, May 23. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin and Ether are trading at $69,485 (roughly Rs. 57.8 lakh) and $3,789 (roughly Rs. 3.15 lakh), respectively.
