Senate will wait for new rules on crypto

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Kimberly Adams** (0:31)
Congress is on summer recess, with some key legislation left unaddressed.
From Marketplace in Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams. Over the weekend, the Senate adjourned for a month-long recess without passing a bill to establish new rules for cryptocurrencies. The crypto industry largely backs the Clarity Act, as it's called. The legislation would formalize that a lot of cryptocurrencies should be treated as commodities, like a contract to sell oil at a certain price a month from now, rather than as securities, like stocks and bonds. Marketplace's Nova Safo is here to explain. Good morning, Nova.

**Nova Safo** (1:07)
Good morning, Kimberly.

**Kimberly Adams** (1:08)
Commodities versus securities. What's the difference for crypto?

**Nova Safo** (1:12)
So the main difference is which agency does the oversight. Securities are under the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is structured to regulate Wall Street. Commodities fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It's a much smaller agency, roughly a quarter of the SEC's budget. Critics argue the CFTC lacks the resources to effectively oversee cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which is what would happen with the Clarity Act. The SEC would oversee only a small, narrow slice of the crypto industry. Now, despite these reservations, the Clarity Act passed the House with bipartisan support. Seventy-eight Democrats and 216 Republicans voted for it. If it passes the Senate, the two chambers will have to reconcile their versions and vote again.

**Kimberly Adams** (1:55)
Now, the banking industry, by and large, doesn't like this bill in its current form. Why is that?

**Nova Safo** (2:01)
Interest rates on deposits. Bread and butter for banks, especially smaller ones. They say the Clarity Act would create a loophole to let crypto companies chip away at that business by offering rewards for stablecoin holders. And stablecoins are a particular kind of crypto. In any case, banks warn allowing crypto rewards would especially hurt smaller financial institutions, undermining their ability to issue loans for new businesses, for instance, which means this could have ripple effects far beyond the crypto industry.

**Kimberly Adams** (2:27)
Marketplace's Nova Safo. Thank you, Nova.

**Nova Safo** (2:29)
You're welcome.

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**Kimberly Adams** (4:18)
It's time once again for us to take the Marketplace economic pulse, views on this economy from a range of perspectives. We're smack in the middle of state and county fair season this summer, and it turns out you can learn a lot about the wider economy through these operations, especially from all the food. Dominic Palmieri is the so-called Midway Gourmet. He's in charge of the carnival food at these fairs, and he joins us for more. Dominic, welcome back to the show.