#USHouseMarketStructureDraft

The House Financial Services Committee of the United States published a statement on May 5, revealing a draft bill proposing a new market structure for digital assets in the United States. The discussion draft, supported by committee chairman French Hill, agriculture committee chairman GT Thompson, and subcommittee chairs Bryan Steil and Dusty Johnson, aims to provide regulatory clarity while maintaining the U.S. position as a leader in financial innovation. It is presented ahead of a joint subcommittee hearing scheduled for May 6 on digital asset policy.

The head of digital asset research at Vaneck, Matthew Sigel, commented on the new bill: "It seems like a significant update compared to FIT21." He explained that the proposed regulations eliminate income and asset thresholds for retail investors and remove accredited investor requirements. He noted that it introduces a decentralization test requiring disclosure of any holder with more than 10% ownership, while the draft remains centralized and ensures no unilateral control. Non-custodial DeFi protocols that do not utilize user discretion would be exempt. The bill defines stablecoins without labeling them as securities and provides an optional early registration pathway, along with joint rulemaking by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Sigel described it as a solid start.