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House “Right” to Pursue Cryptocurrency Bill, Late in Session for Further Progress
AUSTIN, Texas – Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of the U.S. Senate Democrats who has shown some support for cryptocurrency issues, expressed doubt Friday that a legislative fix for the industry would move quickly, but suggested to an audience at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2024 that the momentum will continue next year in Washington.
In the wake of the recent passage of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), sponsored by Representative Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) in the House of Representatives, gaining the support of a third of Democrats. – legislation to establish the structure of the digital assets market is now in the hands of the Senate.
“It’s getting late in this session, so it’s unclear how far the bill will go,” Wyden said at the event in Austin, Texas. “But I think President McHenry is right to establish some sort of regulatory framework and to focus more on fighting fraud and scam artists.”
“We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still a long way to go,” Wyden said.
Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was among them 11 Senate Democrats who joined Republicans in an effort to overturn the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto accounting policy known as Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121). Although the House and Senate passed a resolution to overturn the policy, President Joe Biden threatened to veto it.
“It basically sets a different standard for cryptocurrencies than everyone else in the financial industry when it comes to custody,” Wyden said. “A group of us said, ‘Let’s stay here and take the time to make sense of it and not just establish a whole separate, unique barrier to storing customer cryptocurrencies.’”
He said Congress often struggles with new technologies, but added that cryptocurrencies are a “big issue for people to run on” in this year’s congressional elections.
“There’s no doubt there’s growing interest here,” he said. “It’s led by a lot of young, creative people.”