president joe biden has vetoed a resolution that limits the Securities and Exchange Commission (SECOND) authority over the cryptocurrency sector.
Biden announced the veto On Friday (May 31) evening, he said the legislation would have limited regulators' ability to set guidelines for the crypto industry.
โAdequate guardrails are necessary to protect consumers and investors from taking advantage of the potential benefits and opportunities of cryptoasset innovation,โ Biden said.
โMy administration is eager to work with The congress โEnsure a comprehensive and balanced regulatory framework for digital assets, building on existing authorities, that will promote responsible development of digital assets and payments innovation and help reinforce US leadership in the global financial system.โ
The move would have ended the SEC's special rules for crypto asset custodians, a move supported by both the digital asset sector and the banking industry. Congress passed the legislation last month, but the White House had said the president planned to veto it.
The veto follows last month's passage of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act by the US House of Representatives, which establishes a federal framework designed to ensure regulatory certainty for assets. digital and provide key protections to consumers.
โThe bill, which was first voted on in the House of Representatives in 2023, passed the house by a vote of 279 to 136, with 208 Republicans and 71 Democrats voting to approve it,โ PYMNTS recently wrote. "Its bipartisan approval shows how far the beleaguered crypto sector has come, from a regulatory perspective, in the United States."
But the adoption did not come without controversy. On the morning of the vote, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said the cryptocurrency bill undermine your agency's work.
The legislation, Gensler stressed, โwould create new regulatory loopholes and undermine decades of precedent regarding oversight of investment contracts, putting investors and capital markets at immeasurable risk.โ
AND The Biden administration has also opposed the legislation, saying it โlacks sufficient protections for consumers and investors who engage in certain digital asset transactions,โ at least in its current form.
โStill, the bill passed, providing a light of hope to an industry that has long lamented a lack of regulatory clarity surrounding its U.S. operations,โ the PYMNTS wrote.
