The Crypto Clarity Act: A Congressional Turf War Over Magic Internet Money
In the halls of the United States Congress, they are fighting again. Not over oil, not over social media data, but over crypto. They have slapped a very polished, sterile label on it: the Crypto Clarity Act. Whenever politicians use a word like clarity, you can safely assume the reality is anything but simple. The entire piece of legislation is trying to answer one painfully annoying question. What exactly is a cryptocurrency? Is it a stock? Is it a commodity? Is it just a magic internet coin? Right now, two massive regulatory bosses are locked in a cage match. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, looks at the market and declares that most crypto assets are securities, exactly like traditional stocks, meaning they own the control panel. On the other side, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC, shakes its head and insists many cryptos are commodities, like digital gold, meaning they should be the ones calling the shots. The Clarity Act is essentially stepping in ...