A sweeping piece of legislation that would overhaul how the cryptocurrency industry is regulated by Washington is unlikely to be voted on this year by the U.S. Senate, according to one of the lawmakers driving the effort.
Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis said on Tuesday that the full bill she released last month with Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand would probably not be considered until next year. The lawmakers said various Senate committees, which first need to first green-light aspects of the proposal, could advance pieces of the plan during 2022.
“It’s a big topic, it’s comprehensive, and it’s still new to many U.S. senators,” Lummis, a Republican, said in a joint prerecorded interview with Gillibrand that was played at the Bloomberg Crypto Summit on Tuesday.
She added that the wide-ranging scope of the legislation may make it difficult for lawmakers to digest quickly.
Lummis and Gillibrand have said their plan seeks to both create guardrails to protect consumers and leave space for innovation in digital assets. The bipartisan legislation is being closely watched by the industry and regulators as it’s considered to be among the efforts that have the best chance of becoming law.
Notably, the bill would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission additional authority to oversee coins that are deemed to be commodities — likely giving the regulator direct oversight of bitcoin and ether.
Currently the agency’s remit is mostly limited to crypto derivatives. Under the bill, the Securities and Exchange Commission would police coins that are used to raise money from the public, similar to a stock offering.
The legislation also outlines reserve requirements for stablecoin, sanction compliance and energy consumption reporting.
Gillibrand said the Senate Agriculture Committee is finalizing the portion that focuses on the CFTC jurisdiction and could vote on it by the end of the year. Lummis added that the bill’s stablecoin provisions could make their way through the Senate Banking Committee in the next few months.
