Foley & Lardner LLP partner Patrick Daugherty assessed recent legislative efforts around cryptocurrency in the Blockworks article, “Why a market structure bill is ‘far more complicated’ than the GENIUS Act.”
Daugherty, head of Foley’s Blockchain & Digital Assets team, said that the passage of market structure legislation for the industry is not a given, noting as well the differences between versions of legislation passed by the U.S. House and what was revealed by U.S. Senate Banking Committee.
The CLARITY Act — passed by the U.S. House in July — would help layer-1 blockchain builders raise capital more efficiently and protect them from failing to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Daugherty explained. He shared that it would also help protect crypto exchanges from attacks for trading unregistered tokens and that it would give both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission jurisdiction over certain parts of the industry, with regulation being able to shift between agencies as needed.
“More than the stablecoin statute, either market structure statute, if enacted, will require considerable rulemaking and interpretation by the SEC and the securities bar who are following developments closely,” Daugherty added. “Will CLARITY clarify the law? Yes, but less than some would like.”
