A group of house panels voted on Tuesday to move forward with legislation focused on cryptocurrency market monitoring.
The House Financial Services and the House Agriculture Committees met separately to discuss and ultimately decided to report the bill from their sessions.
But, the atmosphere in the two committees was quite different. The House Agriculture Committee advanced the bill with a 47-6 vote after a brief discussion lasting about two and a half hours.
On the other hand, the House Financial Services Committee took nearly 12 hours to make numerous amendments before casting their final vote just before midnight. This panel also divided the legislation, resulting in a 32-19 vote in favor of moving forward.
“Congress has a unique opportunity to provide the clear regulatory framework necessary to unleash this innovation,” stated House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-ARK).
“The Financial Services Committee is pleased to take this significant step alongside the House Agriculture Committee to build bipartisan support in the committee,” he added. “This bill is edging closer to becoming law, and I thank my colleagues across the aisle for their backing.”
The Clarity Act designates regulatory authority for the digital asset market to two entities: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Both committees need to approve the bill, as the House Financial Services Committee oversees the SEC while the House Agriculture Committee manages the CFTC.
The proposed legislation is gaining traction from House Democrats, especially with President Trump and his family increasing their involvement in the crypto sector, including everything from memecoins to stubcoins.
“Republicans are pushing through the ‘Saturday Act,’ which not only defends Trump’s questionable actions but also creates significant loopholes that could expose investors to fraud and threaten national security,” remarked a ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee (D-Calif.) during the discussion.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), a prominent Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, adopted a more conciliatory approach, voicing her concerns about the bill.
“The Clarity Act isn’t perfect, but it represents a meaningful step forward,” Craig noted.
The vote to advance the House of Representatives’ Market Structure Act coincides with the Senate’s preparations for an important procedural vote on the Stubcoin Act set for Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader John Tune (Rs.D.) plans to conclude debates on Monday with an updated version of the Genius Act, which aims to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins, setting the stage for final votes in the upper chamber.
