New York Democrat Ritchie Torres introduced the short bills, which are meant to supplement more comprehensive legislation, earlier this month with little fanfare.
United States Representative Ritchie Torres has introduced bills within the House of Representatives to ban misuse of client funds by cryptocurrency exchanges and to need they disclose proof of reserves to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The short bills square measure meant to supplement alternative legislation on cryptocurrency, Torres same.
Torres introduced the bills, that have the titles of “Crypto shopper capitalist Protection Act’’ and “Crypto Exchange speech act Act,’’ on Dec. 1. The bills square measure terribly short. In copies obtained from Torres’ workplace, the body of the primary bill, H.R. 9241, reads:
“A cryptocurrency exchange may not lend, leverage, or co-mingle the funds of a customer without the consent of such customer.”
The second bill, H.R. 9242, reads:
“A cryptocurrency exchange that holds assets on behalf of customers shall periodically (as determined by the Securities and Exchange Commission) disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission information relating to proof of reserves of the exchange, including, with respect to the exchange at the time of the disclosure, the amount of assets held by the exchange compared to the liabilities of the exchange.”
The bills have been referred to the House Financial Services Committee.
“Crypto features a place within the american economy, however it should be carefully regulated,” Torres same at a press conference about the bills. He features a record of supporting crypto, together with authoring an editorial on the “liberal case” for crypto in a new york newspaper. On Dec. 5, he wrote a letter requesting a Government accountability workplace review of “the SEC’s failure to protect the investment public from the gross mismanagement and misconduct of FTX."
Related: United States lawmaker queries major crypto exchanges on consumer protection amid FTX collapse
There are many bills that Torres’ legislation could be matched with, together with one written by House money Services Chair Maxine Waters and ranking member patrick henry. Torres is additionally a member of that committee. In Nov, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis compiled an inventory of 20 bills before the U.S. Congress that might have an effect on cryptocurrency.
(DEREK ANDERSEN, Cointelegraph, 2022)