A push by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the crypto industry’s staunchest supporters in Congress, to write a new law for digital assets is getting the support of at least one Democrat.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said on Thursday that she’s working with the Wyoming lawmaker to introduce the legislation in the next several weeks. The bill will cover a range of issues, including banking, taxes, privacy and consumer protection, the two said during an event hosted by Politico in Washington.
“The work we’re doing is going to be a very complex and intensive review of different aspects of this industry,” said Gillibrand.
Gillibrand is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Lummis sits on the Banking Committee — a panel that oversees the Securities and Exchange Commission, which shares jurisdiction over crypto assets with the CFTC.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said he thinks most cryptocurrencies are securities that should be subject to his agency’s rules. Meanwhile, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam has said his agency, which primarily oversees the derivatives markets, is prepared to take on an expanded role regulating digital currencies.
The new legislation would also come after President Joe Biden earlier this month ordered agencies across the U.S. government to weigh in on crypto matters, including stablecoins and a potential central bank digital currency. Lummis and Gillibrand said their bill would address those issues.
Under the plan the CFTC would get additional powers, with the SEC continuing to play a role. The bill won’t seek to change the legal tests the agencies use to determine which regulator has authority, the lawmakers said.
The bill would also alter the definition of a crypto broker, a tag that carries tax-reporting requirements since the passage of last year’s infrastructure bill. Digital-asset advocates have argued the current label is too broadly defined.
“I think we might be able to get a vote, maybe by the end of the year,” Gillibrand said, referring to the bill.
