House Democrats Float Crypto Bill That Hands SEC More Power, Trims CFTC

House Democrats are shopping around a broader crypto market structure bill — and it tilts hard toward the SEC. According to Cointelegraph, citing Eleanor Terrett, the proposal would expand the securities regulator's oversight of digital assets while limiting the CFTC's role. It would also restrict crypto activities by federal officials.

The detail that lands hardest is the agency split. Crypto market structure fights in Washington have largely centered on who gets to police the asset class — the SEC or the CFTC — and this draft hands the heavier hand to the SEC. That's the opposite direction from the lighter-touch, CFTC-forward approach industry lobbyists have been angling for.

The bill is still in discussion, not on the floor. That means the language, the scope and the odds of it moving are all in flux, and no text has been formally rolled out. Cointelegraph's report describes a proposal being floated among Democrats rather than a finished legislative package.

The federal-officials provision adds a second front. Restricting crypto holdings or dealings by government employees would fold ethics and conflict-of-interest questions into a bill already about market oversight — a combination that tends to draw attention fast on Capitol Hill.

Watch for whether Democrats actually file text, and how Republicans and the crypto industry respond. Any bill that grows the SEC's reach and shrinks the CFTC's will draw loud pushback from exchanges and lobbyists who spent years arguing the opposite. For now, it's a signal of where House Democrats want the fight to go.