TechFlow news, according to Bloomberg, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services approved a Republican-led cryptocurrency regulatory framework bill by a vote of 35 to 15.
The legislation would establish rules determining when cryptocurrency companies must register with the SEC or CFTC. It provides a process for digital asset issuers to demonstrate to the SEC that a blockchain network is sufficiently decentralized, which would allow the associated tokens to be classified as commodities regulated by the CFTC.
The bill also requires joint rulemaking by the two agencies and mandates studies on issues including NFTs and decentralized finance ("DeFi").
Additionally, the bill stipulates that a digital asset itself is not a security merely because it is sold as part of an investment contract. The bill will next move to the House Committee on Agriculture for review.
Given that Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, has long been skeptical of the crypto industry, the bill is expected to face significant resistance in the Democratic-led Senate.
