US House Approves Crypto FIT21 Act with Democratic Support
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 279-136 to approve the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act with a very strong showing from House Democrats. The passage of the Crypto Market Structure Act marks the industry’s most significant legislative achievement in Congress.
The cryptocurrency industry scored its biggest ever U.S. policy win on Wednesday when the U.S. House of Representatives approved a far-reaching bill in a 279-136 vote, with Democrats crossing party lines to support the bill.
The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) marks the first time a major cryptocurrency bill has passed both chambers of Congress. The issue now heads to the U.S. Senate, where its future is far murkier as there is no corresponding bill. Support for such an effort remains unclear, and the necessary committees have yet to do the same level of work on crypto.
The U.S. has lagged behind other global jurisdictions in establishing cryptocurrency regulations, and despite Wednesday’s victory, implementing such oversight is far from complete.
“We need rules of the road,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, R-Va., one of the Democrats who defied White House opposition and the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. He called it “well-reasoned, well-thought-out, bipartisan legislation,” and argued before the vote that “it’s fit to become law if we work together.”
Overall, 71 Democrats and 208 Republicans voted in favor, while 3 Republicans and 133 Democrats voted against.
President Biden opposed the bill via a policy statement, though he stopped short of saying he would veto it, as he did recently when Congress tried to overturn the Securities and Exchange Commission’s efforts to set crypto accounting policies. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler also strongly opposed the bill in a lengthy public statement, arguing that it was unnecessary and jeopardized existing securities regulation.
The legislation — driven primarily by House Republicans — would establish a system to regulate the U.S. cryptocurrency market, set up consumer protections, establish the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as the leading regulator of digital assets and the regulator of non-security spot markets, and it would more clearly define whether crypto tokens are securities or commodities.
Waters believes the bill is designed to allow cryptocurrency businesses that have been evading securities laws to avoid accountability.
“They have made billions of dollars illegally by issuing or facilitating the buying and selling of crypto securities,” Waters said. “Republicans are now proposing to reward these illegal activities by making them legal.”
Ahead of the Wednesday afternoon vote, the House debated a number of amendments to the bill, including those proposed by Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Brittany Patterson (D. Co.), Ralph Norman (R. S. C.) and Scott Perry (R-Pa.). Casar’s amendment to change the crowdfunding exemption from $75 million to $5 million was defeated, but the rest were adopted.
