California Representative Maxine Waters, who holds a prominent position as the ranking member of the United States House Financial Services Committee, has urged top officials at federal regulatory bodies to provide their input on a prospective structure for digital assets.
Maxine Waters set a deadline of June 30 for Janet Yellen and Gary Gensler to address her inquiries regarding the “Digital Asset Market Structure” bill put forward by Republican legislators.
On June 23, Maxine Waters sent letters to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and SEC Chair Gary Gensler. She asked them to share information about how the “Digital Asset Market Structure” bill could affect things. This bill, introduced by Republican lawmakers on June 1, aims to create a clear set of rules for digital assets in the United States. It specifically focuses on filling regulatory gaps between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
In her letters, Maxine Waters asked Gary Gensler to explain how the proposed framework could impact the SEC’s ability to safeguard cryptocurrency investors. She made a similar request to Janet Yellen but also emphasized that the Treasury secretary should address any potential conflicts with existing recommendations on digital assets from the Financial Stability Oversight Council, as directed by U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive order on cryptocurrency.
Details on the Bill
A bill, proposed by Republican lawmakers on June 2, is scheduled to be voted on in July.
The main objective of the bill is to create a structure that will determine whether a cryptocurrency should be considered a commodity or a security, and it aims to regulate each class of digital assets separately.
Furthermore, it prohibits the extension of exchange regulations to non-exchange services such as wallet provision, software publishing, and node operation.
House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry and House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson are spearheading the bill, receiving support from Congressmen French Hill and Dusty Johnson.
