US Lawmakers Pass FIT21 Crypto Bill That May Regulate SEC’s Involvement in Sector Oversight

The FIT21 bill aims to clarify which authorities have how much control over the crypto sector, so that the sector is secured but not at the cost of having its growth affected.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 23 May 2024 12:15 IST

US Lawmakers Pass FIT21 Crypto Bill That May Regulate SEC’s Involvement in Sector Oversight

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ Ewan Kennedy

279 out of 136 members of US’ House of Representatives nodded yes to this bill on May 22

Highlights

The FIT21 bill now awaits approval from the US Senate
SEC Chairperson Gary Gensler upset with the passing of FIT21
Crypto community celebrate the decision calling it ‘historic’

Lawmakers from the US have come together to vote in favour of a crypto bill, called the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21). In a rather historic moment, 279 out of 136 members of US' House of Representatives gave a green light to this bill on May 22. In the US, the House of Representatives is responsible for curating legislations and it, along with the US Senate, make the two chambers of Congress.

The US has finally joined the list of nations alongside India, Japan, and South Korea among others -- that are working on bringing the volatile and exploitable digital assets sector under regulatory oversight. The FIT21 bill aims to clarify which authorities have how much control over the crypto sector, so that the sector is secured but not at the cost of having its growth slowed down.

The FIT21 bill reportedly spells distinctive definitions for different categories of crypto assets, so that exchanges know which assets are being seen as securities. This clarification would prevent run-ins of crypto exchanges like Binance and Coinbase with the SEC, that affect the crypto sector's growth.

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It further ensures that the monitoring of the digital assets industry is bifurcated between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As per reports, the CFTC could see more involvement in crypto oversight compared to the SEC, which has, multiple times, been blamed for attacking the crypto sector under the leadership of Gary Gensler.

Gensler has expressed an opposition to the bill reportedly saying, “The crypto industry's record of failures, frauds, and bankruptcies is not because we don't have rules or because the rules are unclear. It's because many players in the crypto industry don't play by the rules.”

Players and stakeholders from US' crypto industry however, are celebrating the passing of the FIT21 bill. Brain Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase along with others posted about the development on X with many calling this vote ‘historic' for the crypto industry.

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Historic vote today on the FIT21 bill in the House of Representatives, that will finally start to create some clear rules to regulate crypto (if it becomes law).

Americans want to know their representatives are protecting their rights to use crypto, creating clear rules to…
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) May 22, 2024

FIT21 passes the House 279 - 136 :tada:

House Democrats voting in favor of this bill: 71.

That is a *huge* number of elected Democrats voting "no confidence" in the current SEC, and sending a message to the Biden administration that "anti-crypto" is a losing platform this year. pic.twitter.com/zmlD1VRQfF
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) May 22, 2024

The House of Representatives made history today by passing the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21). FIT21's success is proof that protecting blockchain technology in the U.S. has strong, bipartisan support.

It's an important step in providing…
— cdixon.eth (@cdixon) May 22, 2024

The bill will now be moved to the Senate for approval, upon which it will be signed into a law.

In the backdrop of this development, the crypto price chart showed profits next to most cryptocurrencies on Thursday, May 23. As per CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin and Ether are trading at $69,485 (roughly Rs. 57.8 lakh) and $3,789 (roughly Rs. 3.15 lakh), respectively.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, US, Crypto Rules, FIT21, SEC, Coinbase, Binance

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More