Two senators said to propose bill that would put bitcoin, ethereum under CFTC eyes

Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), the chariwoman of the U.S. Senate Agricultural Committee, alongside senator John Boozman (R-AR) are set to propose a bill Wednesday that would put bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) under direct oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The legislation aims to narrow the path as to who will oversee the emerging crypto space, as it's not currently under a singular regulatory regime. The commodity regulator, which currently monitors derivatives such as interest-rate swaps, would also be regulating spot markets for so-called digital commodities if the bill becomes law, The WSJ noted. CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam, who used to be a staffer to Stabenow, introduced last week a new technology innovation unit for the purpose of boosting its oversight of cryptos. At the time, Behnam, said that his federal agency is prepared to supervise spot markets for some digital tokens. Amid market turmoil in crypto, lawmakers have been racing to come up with ways to better protect consumers from fraud and market manipulation via regulations. Senators unveiled a bill towards the end of June, for example, that would eliminate taxes on small crypto transactions to "allow Americans to use cryptocurrencies more easily as an everyday method of payment by exempting from taxes small personal transactions like buying a cup of coffee,” said senator Patrick Toomey (R-P...