The Commodity Futures Trading Commission would win jurisdiction over most large digital assets in a wide-ranging, bipartisan package of cryptocurrency legislation introduced Tuesday that would provide a softer treatment of digital assets to the tax code.
Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., proposed the measure, saying it would offer certainty and clarity to the growing cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, which welcomed its introduction. Their bill would write definitions related to cryptocurrency trading into law, introduce tax exemptions and create a detailed regulatory framework for digital assets.
The bill would treat cryptocurrency as a commodity and give the CFTC regulatory authority over digital asset spot markets, including bitcoin and ether. Spot means the direct trading of commodities and financial instruments.
