Democratic and Republican legislators in the United States recently approved the FIT21 bill directed toward cryptocurrencies. The bill was approved following a voting event at the House of Representatives titled Financial Innovation and Technology for 21st Century Act.
The bill got favorable votes from the majority of House Representatives which contains regulatory reforms to grant regulatory clarity regarding digital assets.
FIT21 will Clarify the Regulatory Position of Digital Assets
As per the report, the bill received 136 out of 279 votes in favor organized on 22nd May, 2024. The FIT21 bill is now forwarded to Senate where it will undergo another vote. If approved, the bill will be added to the law and grant regulatory clarity for the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity and Futures Trading Commission role and duties towards digital assets.
About 71 Democrats and 208 Republican legislators voted in favor of the bill. According to House representative Patrick McHenry, the existing regulatory framework prevents digital asset innovation to reach its full potential. He further the SEC and CFTC do not have defined roles when it comes to legal jurisdictions and supervisory rights over the crypto sector.
Representative Maxine Waters Opposes New Crypto Bill
Representative Maxine Waters stated that she was against the FIT21 bill that had the potential to send crypto into no man’s land. She further stated that the legal code of the bill will allow financial firms to operate digital assets without SEC supervision.
Speaking on the matter, she noticed that this bill was one of the most harmful bills that she had witnessed in a long time.
One of her reservations regarding the bill has the potential to deregulate cryptocurrencies and traditional securities to the extent that experts have also talked about the probability of market crash and recession.
The House Representatives further stated that the jury is still out on the matter of voting on the 5403 bill associated with the CBDC Anti-surveillance Act. The bill will provide a legal basis to bar the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital dollar via intermediaries.
Democratic Party legislators stated on 21st May that voting in favor of anti-CBDC bill or FIT21 bill was not favorable for the members. However, he retained that the voters are unlikely to be persuaded to vote against the bills in question.
Meanwhile, the legal framework for cryptocurrencies such as a decision regarding approval and listing of a spot ETH ETF is taking place in the same time frame as the US presidential elections.
BlackRock, Bitwise and Grayscale Modify Ethereum ETF Filings Ahead of SEC Ruling
Another report shared the latest details on the matter of Ethereum spot ETF approval and listing in the United States. The next date for the SEC decision on ETF approval falls on 23rd May 2024.
However, the asset management firms mentioned above have already filed for a spot ETH ETF and amended their applications with the regulatory agency with a 19b-4 filing.
These asset management firms have reported that their application is now in the pipeline for approval with the SEC. The 22nd May filing documents with NASDAQ indicated that BlackRock took out staking options for its Ethereum spot ETF application.
In the same manner, Grayscale and Bitwise also followed suit in their filings with the NYSE Arca. As per the BlackRock filings, all parties associated with the ETF filings such as Trust, sponsors, custodians, and any other person are not elegible to stake any amount of ETH or participate in the proof-of-stake validation process.
In the same manner, the parties associated with ETFs are not allowed to generate passive income or other earnings via the staking method as per the amended application.
Other asset management firms that have joined the race of Ethereum spot ETFs such as Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, ARK, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, and 21Shares have also introduced the same edits to their ETF applications. SEC is set to finalize the decision regarding for VanEck last week.
