Speaking at the Consensus 2023 event, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R–N.C.) said the U.S. House Financial Services Committee and House Agriculture Committee will make long-awaited crypto legislation ready within the next two months.
The upcoming bill will aim to supervise the crypto industry in the U.S.
Before putting together the legislation, the two houses will hold joint public hearings in May.
- McHenry stated that President Joe Biden would sign the legislation into law in the next 12 months.
- The bill will address both securities and commodities regimes and issues.
- The effort will mark the U.S.' first comprehensive legislation on crypto after several bills that stayed in progress.
- During the same event, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), also known as the Senate's Crypto Queen, said they would introduce a new and improved version of the bipartisan Responsible Financial Innovation Act, unveiled in 2022 to create a regulatory framework for the crypto industry, in six to eight weeks.
- Lummis added that the bill would probably have a stronger section on national security and cybercrimes.
Following the collapses of high-profile crypto firms and projects, including the crypto exchange FTX and the Terra ecosystem, in 2022, the U.S. has toughened its regulatory approach towards the crypto industry.
- Over the last several months, many crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, Bittrex, and Binance, came under increased scrutiny by the U.S. regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- Crypto exchange Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong recently stated that the company could move its headquarters outside the U.S. if the regulatory environment does not change in the country, joining the industry's leading figures complaining about the regulatory uncertainty.
