we gave you legislation
Coming out of yesterday’s House Financial Services (HFS) hearing with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (see more), HFS Chair Patrick McHenry (R, NC), House Ag Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson (R, PA), Rep. French Hill (R, AR) and Rep. Dusty Johnson (R, SD) want to know… what’s going on??? Read the release.
In a press release and Congressional letter, the quartet note that digital asset legislation has been created by Congress in the form of the digital asset market structure bill or “FIT 21.” But, FSOC and Secretary Yellen aren’t helping in spite of making the call for Congressional legislation to fill regulatory “gaps” in the first place.
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) continue to wrestle over jurisdiction with SEC Chair Gary Gensler asserting that nearly all crypto assets are securities, which has further muddied the regulatory waters. Read the letter.
Congress wants answers to its five questions by February 20.
tradfi, defi unite
Digital asset wallet provider Metamask – owned by Consensys – and stock trading platform Robinhood announced a new partnership where Metamask’s wallet will be “linked up” to Robinhood Connect, a crypto-trading feature launched last year. This will allow crypto owners using self-hosted wallets to easily buy crypto. A product manager tells Fortune the hope is that crypto becomes a “little bit more friendly and trustworthy” for new customers. Read Fortune on Yahoo.
what you should know: This is another step forward for traditional finance, believe it or not. Imagine someday soon using your JP Morgan Chase account to buy crypto for your self-hosted Metamask crypto wallet?
new co-sponsors
Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s (R, MN) CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act [H.R.5403] continues to pick up Republican co-sponsors. Reps. Mark Alford (MO), Aaron Bean (FL), Larry Bucshon (IN) and Jerry Carl (AL).
That brings the number of co-sponsors for the anti-Central-Bank-Digital-Currency (CBDC) bill to 79. All are Republican.
The “anti-CBDC” topic unofficially joined the U.S. presidential election agenda when former President Trump told a campaign crowd in New Hampshire last month that he would “never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency” and that a CBDC was a “dangerous threat to freedom.”
what you should know: The next question is whether or not the bill – along with other digital asset bills – make it to the House floor for a vote before the 118th session of Congress ends next January.
dealer rule cometh
The SEC widened its rule of what defines a “dealer” yesterday as CoinDesk reports that the updated definition would bring many more areas of operation in the financial world under its umbrella including crypto securities. Read more. DeFi may soon be feeling the long arm of the law with the new rule – DeFi projects may need to register with the Commission by next April.
CoinDesk’s Jesse Hamilton explains, “While this effort – which goes into full effect in April of next year – was largely targeted at electronic participants in the U.S. Treasuries market, the requirements will be the same for any business roped into the expanded definition. A dealer must register with the SEC, comply with securities laws and join an industry-backed self-regulatory organization.”
The two Republican Commissioners were against the rule and three Democrat Commissioners were for it.
Republican Commissioner Mark Uyeda said succinctly in his dissent yesterday, “Today’s action is problematic. The Commission’s effort to classify nearly any person who buys and sells securities as a ‘dealer’ under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) extends beyond its statutory authority.”
more tips:
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- SEC Adopts Rules to Include Certain Significant Market Participants as “Dealers” or “Government Securities Dealers” – SEC.gov
- Comment on SEC’s “Dealer” Rulemaking – DeFi Education Fund
- Comment on Definition of a Dealer rule – Blockchain Association
still more tips
Why Wall Street Firms Are Embracing Crypto (Podcast) – The Wall Street Journal
Crypto Custody Software Provider Fireblocks Eliminates Jobs – Bloomberg
New Bill Would Block SEC Predictive Data Analytics Rule – Think Advisor
Tokenized, Inc.: BlackRock’s Plan To Own The Fractionalized World – Bitcoin Magazine
The cruelty of crypto – Aeon