Senators Lummis and Gillibrand are collaborating on a new digital assets bill

Senators Lummis and Gillibrand are collaborating on a new digital assets bill

By Sam Grant - min read
  • The two US senators are working on a bill addressing, among others issues, consumer protection and taxes
  • The news of the bill being drafted follows a crypto directive recently signed by President Biden

US Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand are looking to table a bill that will touch on several issues within the digital assets industry,

“Thrilled to be working with [Gillibrand] on a bipartisan framework to create clarity, establish responsible sideboards, & ensure reasonable consumer protections. With feedback, this legislation will allow the digital assets industry to innovate and flourish in America,” Lummis posted earlier today.

Some of the aspects that will feature in the regulatory framework are privacy, banking, and crypto taxation, Bloomberg reports.. The forthcoming bill appears to have been triggered by recent Biden's crypto executive order

The duo lightly talked about the bill during the Thursday Politico Live event divulging that it will delegate more resources to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission so it can better regulate the industry.

Gillibrand, a Democrat representing New York, disclosed that they were in the early stage of drafting the bill. She described it as a broad legislative piece that will spell out how the digital assets sector in the US should be regulated.

Wyoming's Lummis explained that the draft would shed light on the infrastructure bill focused on cryptocurrency tax reporting. Specifically, the yet-to-be-tabled bill will clearly define which entities are required to log user information.

The bill won't be an overhaul of existing rules

Details of the bills are scarce, as the two lawmakers are currently taking comments and feedback from various stakeholders. They also confirmed that the bill wouldn't alter the SEC's definition of what qualifies as securities.

"We will take existing parameters, existing definitions and then place different types of products in different places," Gillibrand clarified.

The New York lawmaker and lawyer added that the bill would have a provision for a body that will assess the industry's growth. There's no official timeline for when it will be land before the Senate, but Gillibrand hinted it will be in the next few weeks.

"I think it is something we can hopefully get a vote on by the end of the year if we do our work well and if our committees have hearings and it has a chance to go through regular order," she said.

The bill represents efforts to bring the growing cryptocurrency industry under proper regulation. Biden's crypto directive cleared the path for conversations around crypto regulation with the expectation of bringing clarity as the digital assets landscape evolves.