Crypto Bill: The House of Representatives passed significant digital assets legislation on Wednesday, marking a major victory for the crypto industry in U.S. policy. The bill, approved by a 279-136 vote, saw notable Democratic support, crossing party lines.
The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) is the first major crypto bill to clear either chamber of Congress. Its future now lies with the U.S. Senate, where prospects for decisive action remain uncertain due to the absence of a counterpart bill and insufficient committee work on the issue.
Despite this legislative win, the U.S. continues to lag behind other global jurisdictions in establishing crypto regulations.
“We need rules of the road,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a Democrat who opposed the White House and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. He described the bill as “well-reasoned, thoughtful, bipartisan legislation” and urged for collaboration to see it enacted.
The vote saw 71 Democrats and 208 Republicans in favor, while 3 Republicans and 133 Democrats opposed the bill.
President Joe Biden expressed opposition to the bill through a policy statement but did not explicitly threaten a veto, unlike his recent stance on a Congressional effort to overturn a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) policy on crypto accounting.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler also opposed the legislation, arguing it was unnecessary and threatened existing securities regulations.
The bill, primarily driven by House Republicans, aims to regulate the U.S. crypto markets by setting consumer protections and appointing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as the leading regulator for digital assets and the non-securities spot markets. It also seeks to clarify the distinction between crypto tokens as securities or commodities.
Rep. Maxine Waters criticized the bill, claiming it allows crypto businesses to evade securities laws. “They have already made billions of dollars by illegally issuing or facilitating the trade of crypto securities,” Waters said. “Now, Republicans are proposing to legitimize these illegal activities by making them legal.”
Before the vote, the House debated several amendments, including those by Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), and Scott Perry (R-Pa.). Casar’s amendment to reduce a crowdfunding exemption from $75 million to $5 million was defeated, while the other amendments were adopted.
