The U.S. has unveiled a sweeping draft crypto bill that redefines digital asset oversight, igniting momentum for regulatory clarity, investor protection, and global market leadership.
New US Crypto Asset Bill Draft Drops: ‘We Made Historic Progress’
The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services released a statement on May 5, unveiling a draft bill proposing a new market structure for digital assets in the United States. Backed by Committee Chairman French Hill, Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson, and Subcommittee Chairs Bryan Steil and Dusty Johnson, the discussion draft aims to deliver regulatory clarity while maintaining U.S. leadership in financial innovation. It comes ahead of a joint subcommittee hearing scheduled for May 6 on digital assets policy.
Chairman Hill framed the draft as a continuation of bipartisan groundwork laid in the previous Congress: “We made historic progress in the 118th Congress to build bipartisan, bicameral consensus in crafting a functional regulatory framework for digital assets.” He added: “Our discussion draft builds upon that work and provides much-needed regulatory clarity for the digital asset ecosystem by protecting consumers and safeguarding the long-term integrity of digital asset markets in the United States.” Steil described the legislation as a tool to maintain global competitiveness:
The golden age of digital assets is here, and the House … is leading the way. Our discussion draft aims to keep America at the forefront of financial innovation and global competition, while protecting consumers from fraud.
Reactions from within the crypto industry surfaced swiftly following the bill’s release, with industry experts also weighing in on the structural changes it proposes. Vaneck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, commented on social media platform X: “New U.S. crypto market structure bill just dropped. Looks like a major upgrade from FIT21.” He explained that the proposed legislation eliminates income and wealth thresholds for retail investors and removes accredited investor and suitability requirements.
Moreover, Sigel noted that it introduces a decentralization test requiring disclosure of any holder with more than 10% ownership while the project remains centralized and ensures there is no unilateral control. Non-custodial DeFi protocols that do not exercise user discretion would be exempt. The bill defines stablecoins without labeling them as securities and provides an optional early registration path, along with joint rulemaking by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Sigel described it as a solid start. Justin Slaughter, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Paradigm, described the draft as “an incremental, albeit meaningful, rewrite of FIT21” that modifies oversight procedures and alters the path to decentralization recognition. He opined:
Overall, this bill again would make the CFTC the dominant crypto regulator, but still gives the SEC jurisdiction until a network establishes decentralization.
Source: Bitcoin
