New Crypto Bill Comes to Light as SEC Updates Staking Rules

On Thursday, the House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees unveiled the much-anticipated bipartisan bill, the CLARITY Act. This new crypto bill intends to alter how digital assets are governed in the United States.

The bill would move the regulation of most crypto tokens from the SEC to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is seen as more open to crypto. It also creates a new class termed “digital commodities,” which would encompass widely traded tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, XRP, and Dogecoin.

The CLARITY Act introduces something new, which is a “mature blockchain system” label. They might qualify for this if they are open-source, decentralized, and one company or entity does not control more than 20% of the token supply. This will help to distinguish more reputable blockchains from scammy or risky ones.

On the same day, the SEC released updated instructions on cryptocurrency staking. It clarified that self-staking, staking-as-a-service, and even services with features like slicing protection or personalised incentives are not securities. This is a significant departure from previous opinions that staking may violate the law.

Congress is scheduled to have a hearing on the CLARITY Act on June 4, followed by a markup session on June 10.