A recently introduced US bill – the “Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act of 2021” – would create a working group composed of industry experts and representatives from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to evaluate the current legal and regulatory framework governing digital assets in the U.S. The law’s main objective would be to clarify when a particular token or cryptocurrency is a security regulated by the SEC and when it’s a commodity regulated by the CFTC. The group’s non-governmental representatives would come from a financial technology company, a financial services institution, small businesses using financial technology, investor protection groups, organisations that support investments in underserved businesses and at least one academic researcher. Within a year, this group would be required to file a report analysing current regulations, their impact on primary and secondary markets and how the regime affects the competitive position of the United States.
