U.S. House of Representatives approves FIT21 bill in bipartisan vote for crypto market rules

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the FIT21 cryptocurrency market bill with bipartisan support today.

With 71 Democrats joining Republican members of the House, the Financial Innovation and Technology bill passed 279-136. The bill is one of the biggest to pass this year for the crypto, blockchain and Web3 markets. That bodes well for Web3 gaming companies who have raised a lot of venture capital in recent years.

The aim of the bill is to reshape the U.S.s digital asset regulations to support innovation while protecting consumers.

If passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Joe Biden, FIT21 would grant the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) authority over digital assets deemed to be commodities, as well as creating legal domain for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“This is a defining moment for the crypto industry,” said Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, in a statement.

The council said the vote represents years of effort from policymakers, their staff, and the industry to safeguard consumers and keep the U.S. at the forefront of digital innovation. 

Crypto companies and digital asset makers (including game companies) will have a framework for determining if their assets are securities under the terms defined by the bill. Such vagueness in the past led to a lot of litigation between government regulators and startups trying to move fast. The bill has a test on whether a project qualifies as a decentralized blockchain or not.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in Silicon Valley argued that blockchain innovation should happen in the U.S.