The bill gives “new authorities to the SEC and the CFTC specific to digital assets without rewriting securities law,” McHenry said at the Investment Company Institute’s 2024 Leadership Summit in Washington.
Ahead of the vote, Gensler issued a May 22 statement on the bill in which he said it “would create new regulatory gaps and undermine decades of precedent regarding the oversight of investment contracts, putting investors and capital markets at immeasurable risk.”
Gensler is an outspoken critic of the digital asset industry, as he says the rules of the road are clear for the industry, but market participants refuse to follow them.
“Widespread noncompliance has resulted in widespread fraud, bankruptcies, failures and misconduct,” Gensler said in his statement.
However, McHenry pushed back on that and said the bill will provide more clarity to the industry.
“It is the Gensler regime that has made things less certain (and) more difficult for regulated (entities) to play substantial roles in this space and provide consumer protection,” McHenry contended.
According to McHenry, the statement from Gensler is “no shock,” though “(Gensler) said that he would not provide written technical assistance” on the bill when the committees marked it up in July.
The bill, introduced by senior Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, advanced out of the committees with some Democratic votes, which McHenry pointed out.
“My hope is, when we get a vote on this (bill) this evening, we’ll have a nice bipartisan vote and get some momentum to provide some clarity,” McHenry said.
