Indeed, the bill, developed by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman and Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow and Arkansas Republican Senator John Boozman, would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulatory control over spot markets for the newly defined ‘digital commodities,’ as per a report by The Wall Street Journal on August 3. Notably, the CTFC currently only has oversight over derivatives like swaps and futures but not underlying commodities.
Benefits of CTFC controlling crypto
Adding crypto to an agency’s scope would grant it more funding, influence, and job positions for former government officials. Furthermore, congressmen belonging to commissions supervising such agencies would gain more lobbyists and campaign donations, Kiernan writes. In terms of advantages for the crypto industry, crypto trader and analyst Josh Rager reflected on the announcement in a tweet stating that the bill would be “bullish for crypto, especially with Ether being included as commodity.” Meanwhile, this bill would represent the newest addition to a sleuth of bills meant to define jurisdiction over the novel assets class, including the one that Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand proposed in June, which aims to clarify different elements of crypto regulations, as well as correctly classify digital assets.
Other crypto-friendly bills in the U.S.
In late July, Pennsylvania Senator Patrick Toomey and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema proposed a bill that would prevent Americans from reporting crypto transactions earning less than $50. Elsewhere, the Governor of New Hampshire Chris Sununu signed in late June a bill that “exempts the developer, seller, or facilitator of the exchange of an open blockchain token from certain securities laws.” Lastly, around the same time in June, Governor of Louisiana John Bel Edwards approved a bill allowing financial institutions in the state of Louisiana to custody Bitcoin and other digital assets for customers, Finbold reported.
