Sen. Lummis: FTX Collapse Should Speed Consideration of Crypto Bill

U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis said the fall of FTX should speed consideration of a bill on regulating cryptocurrencies. Lummis introduced the bill to the legislature with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in June.

“I hope [FTX’s collapse] highlighted with members of Congress who have not taken the time to learn more about this asset class, that it’s time for them to learn more about it so we can engage in proper regulation,” Lummis told the Financial Times Monday (Nov. 28).

The bill would apply stricter rules to companies that trade and have custody of clients’ assets, would ban commingling of the assets of exchanges and their clients and would clarify whether cryptocurrencies are tradable securities, according to the report.

The regulations proposed in the bill would apply to companies like FTX and would prohibit the commingling of assets that led to FTX’s bankruptcy, the news outlet said.

The bill is currently in committee and Lummis said she was “very hopeful” that it would be high on the agenda when Congress meets in January, per the report.

As PYMNTS reported June 7, the Responsible Financial Innovation Act introduced by Lummis and Gillibrand seeks to create a broad and all-inclusive regulatory and legal framework for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and the decentralized finance (DeFi) market.

From a payments perspective, the bill would exclude crypto purchases under $200 from having to report capital gains to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and would require stablecoins to be 100% backed by fiat currency and a limited-but-undetermined set of highly liquid investments such as treasuries.

“The Responsible Financial Innovation Act creates regulatory clarity for agencies charged with supervising digital asset markets, provides a strong, tailored regulatory framework for stablecoins, and integrates digital assets into our existing tax and banking laws,” Lummis said at the time.

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