Three Crypto Bills Approved by the US?
The CLARITY Act is assessed to have the broadest impact. This bill establishes a legal framework to classify digital assets, whether as commodities, which will be overseen by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), or as securities under the authority of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This step is expected to provide regulatory certainty for industry players and crypto investors in the US.
Meanwhile, the GENIUS Act, which was previously passed by the Senate last June, aims to regulate the issuance and oversight of stablecoins. This bill stipulates that stablecoins must be backed by safe and liquid assets such as cash or US treasury, as well as opens a pathway for banks to issue their own stablecoins.
The third bill, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, comes in response to public concerns about the potential for mass surveillance by the government if a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is issued. Full access to digital transaction data is considered to open up opportunities for spying on individuals and institutions.
This bill explicitly prohibits the US Federal Reserve from developing or issuing a CBDC, while also elevating the issue of privacy to a national level after previously only applying in several states.
These three bills were predicted to pass before the US Congress entered its August recess. Bipartisan support is quite evident, with nearly 80 Democratic members approving the CLARITY Act and more than 100 approving the GENIUS Act. However, the Anti-CBDC bill has caused the sharpest division due to a lack of support from the Democratic Party.
Some Republican members even held up the voting process for hours, demanding that the clause prohibiting the development of CBDCs be explicitly included. This reflects growing concerns among conservatives about the potential use of technology by the government to surveil its citizens.