Crypto bill update: What legislation is making its way forward?

As the 2024 election looms, crypto-focused legislation is starting to make its way through the US House. But roadblocks in the Senate still loom.

House members last week approved joint resolution 109 — which would invalidate the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 — in a 228-182 vote. It’s the first time a crypto bill has made it to and passed the House in a floor vote.

The resolution now moves on to the Senate, where the Democrat majority makes it unlikely to pass, although there were 21 Democrats who voted against their party and in favor of the resolution in the House. If the legislation does make it past the Senate, however, the Biden administration has said the president will veto the resolution.

“Limiting the SEC’s ability to maintain a comprehensive and effective financial regulatory framework for crypto assets would introduce substantial financial instability and market uncertainty,” the White House wrote in a statement last week.

The House has passed several crypto bills out of Committee, but has failed to bring the vast majority of them to the floor for a full vote. The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, the Keep Your Coins Act and the Financial Technology Protection Act all survived markup, but have not been scheduled for a full vote.

The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, known as the FIT act, last week advanced to the House Committee on Rules. It should be heading for a floor vote later this month, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., said.

In the Senate, crypto-related bills, even those with bipartisan support, have yet to grab the interest of committee heads, who would need to add markups to their respective agendas.

The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, backed by Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has been the topic of several Senate Banking Committee hearings, but has not been voted on or marked up.

“At the end of the day, Elizabeth Warren has a lot of power right now in the Biden administration, she’s got a lot of influence over who the appointees are,” Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said last month at a Brown Rudnick event in New York. “But she hasn’t always been influential in actually getting legislation passed.”

Longtime collaborators Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyom., and Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., last summer brought a revamped version of their Responsible Financial Innovation Act to the Senate floor, but the bill has not progressed.

The Senate received joint resolution 109 last week but has not yet scheduled a date to vote. Both the Senate and House are scheduled to recess on May 24 until June 3.

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