A bill that would create a joint SEC-CFTC crypto task force has been passed in the House and will head to the Senate

• The House passed a bill that aims to bring the SEC and CFTC together to work on digital asset regulation.
• The Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act would mandate private sector fintech representatives to advise both the SEC and CFTC on digital asset markets.
• The bill is now headed to the Senate.
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The House of Representatives passed a bill that aims to bring the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures Trading Commission together for work on digital asset rules.

The Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act of 2021 passed the House on April 20, and would mandate the creation of a joint working group of private sector employees that would advise both commissions and come up with recommendations as to how the committees should address digital assets markets. The bill now heads to the Senate.

In an interview with CoinDesk TV on Wednesday, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said she's looking forward to reviewing the bill and working with Senate banking committee members to "consider it as soon as possible."

" I believe that we are starting to see people in the administration understanding the importance of financial technology, and you're starting to see it in Congress evidenced by the bill that just passed the house," Lummis said.

The SEC and CFTC have struggled for years to determine which cryptocurrencies are considered commodities and which are considered securities. The issue is at the center of the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple over its XRP token. Ripple claims XRP is a commodity and therefore out of the SEC's reach, while the regulator says Ripple ran an unregistered securities offering. The task force would hopefully provide clarity on such issues.

The non-government employees who would be appointed to the working group would include representatives from fintech companies that provide digital assets, financial firms under the jurisdiction of the SEC, institutions that research digital assets, small businesses engaged in fintech, investor protection organizations, and institutions that support investment in historically-underserved businesses, per the text of the bill.