Washington, D.C. — Today, Representative John Curtis (UT-03) cosponsored the Financial Innovation and Technology (FIT) for the 21st Century Act, which establishes a regulatory framework for digital assets.

“This bill establishes an appropriate framework for regulation of cryptocurrency in a way that fosters innovation and maintains U.S. leadership in blockchain technology while protecting against bad actors like FTX,” said Congressman John Curtis. “As a Member of the Blockchain Caucus and representative of Silicon Slopes, I am pleased to lend my support to the largest crypto-friendly legislation in the House and urge its swift passage.”

The FIT for the 21st Century Act returns the currently overzealous SEC to its appropriate regulatory role and makes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission the primary regulator of cryptocurrency as a commodity while clarifying the SEC as regulator over digital assets when offered in an investment contract.

BACKGROUND:

Without clear direction from Congress and because of broad definitions of securities and commodities, the SEC has inserted itself into the regulation of cryptocurrency.

At the same time, other countries such as Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and even China have taken advantage of America’s unclear regulatory environment and worked to build their own regulatory frameworks and make their countries hubs for the digital asset ecosystem.

The FIT for the 21st Century Act provides the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with jurisdiction over digital commodities and clarifies the SEC’s jurisdiction over digital assets offered as part of an investment contract. Additionally, the Act establishes a process to permit the secondary market trading of digital commodities, if they were initially offered as part of an investment contract. Finally, the Act imposes robust customer protections on all entities required to be registered with the SEC and CFTC.

The FIT for the 21st Century Act was introduced by the Chairs of Agriculture Committee and Financial Services Committee. The Agriculture Committee has jurisdiction over the CFTC and the Financial Services Committee has jurisdiction over the SEC.

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