Bipartisan crypto regulatory overhaul would treat most digital assets as commodities under CFTC oversight

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis introduced the first major bipartisan legislation aimed at taming the “Wild West” crypto market on Tuesday that would classify digital assets as commodities like wheat or oil and empower the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to rein in the nascent industry.

Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Lummis, a first-term Republican from Wyoming on the Banking Committee, said the Responsible Financial Innovation Act is the culmination of months of collaboration in the House and Senate and represents a critical first attempt to structure the markets for digital assets with long-awaited legal definitions. 

Their offices touted the bill as “landmark bipartisan legislation that will create a complete regulatory framework for digital assets that encourages responsible financial innovation, flexibility, transparency and robust consumer protections while integrating digital assets into existing law.”