Congressman Patrick McHenry says bitcoin is unstoppable and every regime that’s tried to shut it down has failed. He emphasized that the U.S. must become a leader in digital assets, noting that two congressional bills offer a path toward clear regulations.
Two Pieces of Legislation Could Provide Greater Clarity in Digital Assets
Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) discussed bitcoin and crypto legislation in a fireside chat at the Bitcoin Policy Summit 2024 on Tuesday.
He began by highlighting the unstoppable nature of Bitcoin, pointing out that “Even the Chinese Communist Party that tried to shut down Bitcoin couldn’t.” Noting that Satoshi Nakamoto brought Bitcoin into this world, the lawmaker emphasized:
It’s been unstoppable. Every regime that’s trying to shut it down has failed.
“So, it is an unstoppable piece of technology that I’m trying to convince policymakers on the Hill to embrace and for the United States to be leaders in rather than fall behind,” McHenry stressed.
“We need the United States to be leaders in this generation of technology rather than falling behind,” the congressman continued. He then outlined what the U.S. must do to become a leader in the crypto industry. “First, there’s no definition. We have IRS putting out rulings on the tax consequences of owning bitcoin,” he said, adding:
We don’t have in federal law a definition of a digital asset. We don’t have in federal law a means of exchange for a digital asset. We have to provide that clarity.
McHenry, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, then highlighted two bipartisan bills passed by his committee last year.
The first bill he mentioned was the FIT for the 21st Century Act, which passed out of the committee in July last year. “Number one is the FIT 21 Act, authored and led by [Congressman] French Hill, which provides that clarity of the definition of a digital asset,” McHenry described, elaborating: “It would state clearly what is a commodity, what is a security, and for digital assets, it would create a means of exchange.”
The second bill was the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act, which the House Financial Services Committee also passed in July last year. “We have a second piece of legislation that provides clarity on what is a stablecoin under a federal regime, modeled after the New York State law defining a stablecoin,” McHenry explained, elaborating:
So those are two pieces of legislation that could provide greater clarity here.
The Congressman emphasized these bills aim to “put the U.S. back in the game” in both Bitcoin and the “broader set of digital assets.”
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Source: Bitcoin
