Cynthia Lummins, the well-known Republican US Senator from the state of Wyoming, indicated today that the crypto bill she is working on would be designed “to work within the traditional framework for managing and regulating traditional assets.”, being an excellent overview of the ecosystem, but omits NFTs in its proposal.
Lummins’ statements came during an interview organized by the Axios team, where she offered some details about the bill she is working on with Democratic Senator Lristin Gillibrand, which will be divided into several components to be submitted to consideration in the respective responsible committees.
On the bill, Lummins highlighted that supervision of cryptocurrencies would be divided between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), state agencies that have already had their disagreements around this matter.
She clarified that it would be the SEC that intervenes when an asset meets the criteria of the Howey Test to qualify as a security, according to the requirements adopted in 1946 to define this class of financial instruments.
Regarding the wide variety of altcoins present in the market, Lummins commented that the regulation must also pertinently address these assets, but that the most important thing is to know how to differentiate them to know how to approach them, thus allowing some of these to be used for programs where they would have room, such as retirement savings packages.
NFT outside the bill
An important aspect highlighted by Lummins is that the controversial digital collectibles, better known as NFTs, will not be addressed in this first bill that will be presented soon.
In this regard, the senator clarified that “it is very difficult to discover how to categorize them”, so it will not be the responsibility of this first proposal to solve that problem. Therefore, the door will be left open for the regulators to decide if they wish to regulate them and how to deal with them, but this is after their bill is approved.
Among other issues that the initiative promoted by Lummins will not address is precisely the environmental debate facing the leading cryptocurrencies. But what does touch on specific vital points is the idea of cryptocurrencies backed by central banks (CBDC), an aspect that is considered a priority by the US administration.
‘Regulation is Crucial’
Among other comments, Lummins highlighted that digital assets are “non-partisan,” so the need to address them legally is integral. Therefore, the bill she is working on is complex, but she has been advancing little by little, adequately covering all the necessary aspects to guarantee an optimal approach to these issues.
Lummins’ efforts are not isolated since, in the framework of the work she had been carrying out, the executive order announced by President Biden emerged, which asked all state agencies to closely investigate crypto assets to think of appropriate ways to regulate them. . It is worth noting that the latter referred to the subject in a friendly way, which generated positive feelings among enthusiasts and investors.
From a more state point of view, the efforts promoted by legislators in several localities to give some type of legal approach to said assets also stand out.
