Odaily Planet Daily News US Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand re-introduced the "Responsible Financial Innovation Act". The bill proposes that cryptocurrency exchanges be regulated by the CFTC, the SEC will take a backseat, and all stablecoin issuers should be regulated depository institutions.

Last year's first bipartisan bill failed to make significant progress, and the will of key figures such as Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, remains unclear this year.
The key content of the bill is to delineate the boundary between securities regulation and other regulatory objects. Broadly speaking, assets that do not confer economic benefit to investors should not be considered securities, even if they "benefit from entrepreneurial and managerial efforts that determine the asset's value." Those companies that issue cryptocurrencies will disclose to the SEC twice a year, but as long as their tokens don't represent debt or equity, or other forms of ownership, they won't be affected by the SEC -- except as the agency outlines in the bill. Victory in court challenge.
As it stands, the bill would bring most cryptocurrencies under the CFTC’s commodity domain and would give the agency authority over crypto transactions. Nonetheless, the two agencies, the SEC and CFTC, will receive the same amount of funding ($500 million) and they will both have equal powers in a new crypto self-regulatory organization (SRO).
Creating such an intermediary entity, like the National Futures Association or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for the securities industry, remains controversial. Basically, Lummis and Gillibrand propose creating an independent organization to manage industry standards, with penalties for violations. In this case, it is described as a "consumer protection and market integrity authority".
The bill would also require complete segregation of customers' assets, implement new risk management standards for crypto lending, and outright ban "rehypothecation," in which crypto firms use customers' assets to extend their own credit.
Lummis and Gillibrand also pushed for a definition of DeFi that sets strict rules for when a software project strays into more centralized business work and when it needs to register as an exchange. (CoinDesk)
In previous news, U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand will reintroduce their "Responsible Financial Innovation Act", as the U.S. Congress will continue to talk about the future of digital asset regulation.
“This legislation is the most comprehensive proposal to date, providing strong consumer protections and appropriately addressing the current crypto asset situation,” Lummis said.
The bill aims to address key issues such as market structure, stablecoin regulation, and taxation. Lummis and Gillibrand first introduced the bill in June 2022.