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After years of regulatory uncertainty, u.s. officials have finally received a bill aimed at shedding some light on how local watchdogs could oversee the cryptocurrency industry. Directed by sen. cynthia lummi (r-wy), with the bi-partisan support of kirstin gillibrand (d-ny) and ted cruz (r-tx), the bill aims to classify most digital assets as commodities and provide more power to the cftc than to the gensler-led sector.
While this proposal has received some support from some crypto developers, max keiser, one of the og btc supporters, is on the opposite side. In a recent interview with cryptopotato, the keiser report host emphasized why he believes that only Bitcoin should be a commodity, as it is the only fully decentralized asset.
The US Crypto Bill
Lummis and co made strides this week when the first draft of the bill came out. It’s a fairly comprehensive 69-page proposition that brings up different types of crypto assets, from NFTs and stablecoins to DAOs and, of course, bitcoin.
As most expected, the bill categorizes the main cryptocurrency as a commodity – something that U.S. authorities have also acknowledged in the past. Moreover, insiders reportedly claimed that Ethereum would also receive the same classification. Interestingly, one US Senator believes that SEC Chair Gary Gensler has the same opinion.
However, there were some surprises when it came down to other digital assets, including the addition of a new term – ancillary assets:
Digital assets that are not completely decentralized and that benefit from entrepreneurial and managerial efforts that determine the value of assets. Ancillary assets in compliance with these disclosure requirements are presumed to be a commodity.”
Max Keiser Says Not so Fast
Keiser is a well-known bitcoin proponent who has spoken against the rest of the cryptocurrency market on numerous occasions, arguing that only BTC is a fully-decentralized digital asset. As such, he also weighed in on the Lummis-Gillibrand draft bill that wants to put most cryptocurrencies under the CFTC jurisdiction, even with the so-called “ancillary assets” having to be in compliance with the SEC as well.
As such, he also gave his opinion on the lummis-gillibrand bill that wants to put most cryptocurrencies under the cftc's jurisdiction, even if the so-called "ancillary assets" must also be in compliance with the sec. Talking to CryptoPotato, Keiser described the bill as "mute" as it has "a few fatal flaws."
Relying on his 40+ years of experience in the securities field, bringing up his 1996 patent on virtual currencies and securities, and touching upon the Howey Test (a decades-old Supreme Court doctrine used to determine whether an asset is a security), Keiser said:
Building on 40 years of investment experience, the bank's 1996 patent on virtual currencies and securities, and to address the howey test (a decades-old supreme court doctrine used to determine whether an asset is a security), Keiser said: There's no doubt about that. Everything else, the 20,000 replacement parts, according to Howey's test, are unregistered titles.
The Lummis bill is a political junk attempting to attract lots of lobbying money from disgraced shitcoiners and shows a complete misunderstanding of securities laws, and the functioning of the SEC and CFTC, while also showing an exceptional misunderstanding of Bitcoin.”
Keiser paid special attention to Ripple and the company’s legal battle against the SEC, aiming to determine whether the firm broke the Securities Act by selling XRP as an unregistered security.
'it is ridiculous for ripple to assert that xrp is not an unregistered security citing eth as a case study when the overwhelming evidence shows eth, vitalik [buterin], [joseph] lubin, the entire team, and those who trade him as a serial scammer [mike] novogratz openly discussed eth as designed to be, with the purpose of being, a security.
Xrp and eth are undoubtedly securities, lummis should have used his position to make it clear and establish legal parameters. Instead, she concocted a witches’ brew of inane drivel that makes no sense and will drive the US backward and further away from a Bitcoin standard.”
Lastly, the prominent BTC proponent praised El Salvador for its open-minded approach to bitcoin and raised hopes that the country’s securities law will be much better than what Sen. Lummis and Gillibrand proposed.
