At 10:00 am this morning the House Financial Services Committee will be holding a hearing titled "Dazed and Confused: Breaking Down the SEC’s Politicized Approach to Digital Assets" which you can watch via the website that I have linked or through YouTube. This hearing will cover how the SEC has struggled with the application of US securities laws to digital assets and how under Chairman Gary Gensler the SEC has decided to prioritize and push an enforcement and regulatory agenda to the detriment of the digital asset ecosystem. We have all seen this as the SEC's Wells Notice printer just seems to be running 24/7 and if you haven't gotten one as a company in the space it's kinda a what are you doing everyone else has one.
The witness panel covers people who are not only in the space but also those who are in the space and used to be in the SEC and other regulatory bodies. What this means is that the lawmakers will get critical insight into what is going on and how these bills they are considering would impact the SEC and the digital ecosystem as a whole. Of the 5 bills that are going to be discussed, only one has been introduced and has a bill number the rest are what are called discussion drafts meaning they are much easier to edit compared to an introduced bill.
-
H.R. 5741 also called the Uniform Treatment of Custodial Assets Act. This one is very straightforward and plays an enormous role a lot of people likely are not aware of. Currently, financial institutions, credit unions, and others in the same vein are required to include any assets they are holding in custody or safekeeping as a liability. This dramatically impacts a bank's balance sheet and serves as a barrier from encouraging this. This bill would prevent this from occurring and prohibit Federal banking agencies the National Credit Union, and the SEC from doing so.
-
The New Frontiers in Technology (NFT) Act which would codify into law that the numerous types of NFTs covered in this Act are not investment contracts or a transaction in a security. Being a Congressional act it also has the GAO (Government Accountability Office) conduct a study on NFTs that would be published publically one year after it is enacted.
-
The Securing Innovation in Financial Regulation Act establishes the SEC Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) and LabCFTC in the CFTC. FinHub will assist the SEC and coordinate the SEC’s response to emerging technologies in financial, regulatory, and supervisory systems. LabCFTC can be thought of as the CFTC's version of FinHub and will serve as an information source for the CFTC on FinTech innovation. Both Commissions will be allowed to manage and select the directors for their respective hubs.
-
The Bridging Regulation and Innovation for Digital Global and Electronic (BRIDGE) Digital Assets Act has gotten some public attention because it establishes a Joint CFTC-SEC Advisory Committee on Digital Assets composed of digital asset marketplace stakeholders. This means that like many other industries that have similar committees that share what is going on in the market, what they see, and issues that might arise would be created for crypto. In other words, crypto would get the recognition that many/most other industries also receive.
-
To codify the special purpose broker dealer, and for other purposes okay Jesus this one was not only a pain in the ass to read but also a pain in the ass to understand even with a summary. Essentially in 2020, the SEC put in place some sort of framework for broker-dealers to register with them and be able to offer services for tokenized securities. This would extend this for an additional 5 years which I guess the idea behind it is to provide some/more clarity. Further, it allows them to handle tokenized securities and permitted payment stablecoins and requires the SEC to conduct a study to assess whether additional guidance or rules are necessary to facilities the development of tokenized securities.
The testimony from these witnesses should provide clear insight into what these various bills would do and help legislators make the best choice or alterations to these bills to move them forward.
