I
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 9579
To establish the Joint Advisory Committee on Digital Assets, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER12, 2024
Mr. R
OSEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To establish the Joint Advisory Committee on Digital Assets,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bridging Regulation 4
and Innovation for Digital Global and Electronic Digital 5
Assets Act’’ or the ‘‘BRIDGE Digital Assets Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. CFTC-SEC JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON DIG-1
ITAL ASSETS. 2
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Commodity Futures 3
Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange 4
Commission (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Commis-5
sions’’) shall jointly establish the Joint Advisory Com-6
mittee on Digital Assets (in this section referred to as the 7
‘‘Committee’’). 8
(b) P
URPOSE.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Committee shall— 10
(A) provide the Commissions with advice 11
on the rules, regulations, and policies of the 12
Commissions related to digital assets; 13
(B) further the regulatory harmonization 14
of digital asset policy between the Commissions; 15
(C) examine and disseminate methods for 16
describing, measuring, and quantifying digital 17
asset— 18
(i) decentralization; 19
(ii) functionality; 20
(iii) information asymmetries; and 21
(iv) transaction and network security; 22
and 23
(D) examine the potential for digital as-24
sets, blockchain systems, and distributed ledger 25
technology to improve efficiency in the oper-26
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ation of financial market infrastructure and 1
better protect financial market participants, in-2
cluding services and systems which provide— 3
(i) improved customer protections; 4
(ii) public availability of information; 5
(iii) greater transparency regarding 6
customer funds; 7
(iv) reduced transaction cost; and 8
(v) increased access to financial mar-9
ket services. 10
(2) R
EVIEW BY AGENCIES.—Each Commission 11
shall— 12
(A) review the findings and recommenda-13
tions of the Committee; 14
(B) promptly issue a public statement each 15
time the Committee submits a finding or rec-16
ommendation to a Commission— 17
(i) assessing the finding or rec-18
ommendation of the Committee; 19
(ii) disclosing the action or decision 20
not to take action made by the Commis-21
sion in response to a finding or rec-22
ommendation; and 23
(iii) explaining the reasons for the ac-24
tion or decision not to take action; and 25
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(C) each time the Committee submits a 1
finding or recommendation to a Commission, 2
provide the Committee with a formal response 3
to the finding or recommendation not later than 4
3 months after the date of the submission of 5
the finding or recommendation. 6
(c) M
EMBERSHIP ANDLEADERSHIP.— 7
(1) N
ON-FEDERAL MEMBERS .— 8
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Commissions shall 9
appoint at least 20 nongovernmental stake-10
holders who represent a broad spectrum of in-11
terests, equally divided between the Commis-12
sions, to serve as members of the Committee. 13
The appointees shall include— 14
(i) digital asset issuers; 15
(ii) persons registered with the Com-16
missions and engaged in digital asset re-17
lated activities; 18
(iii) individuals engaged in academic 19
research relating to digital assets; and 20
(iv) digital asset users. 21
(B) M
EMBERS NOT COMMISSION EMPLOY -22
EES.—Members appointed under subparagraph 23
(A) shall not be deemed to be employees or 24
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agents of a Commission solely by reason of 1
membership on the Committee. 2
(2) C
O-DESIGNATED FEDERAL OFFICERS .— 3
Notwithstanding section 1009 of title 5, United 4
States Code, the Committee shall have two des-5
ignated Federal officers or employees, as described 6
under such section, with each Commission desig-7
nating one officer or employee of the Commission to 8
serve as a designated Federal officer or employee, 9
from among individuals who possess an under-10
standing of digital assets, blockchain systems, and 11
financial technology. 12
(3) C
OMMITTEE LEADERSHIP .— 13
(A) C
OMPOSITION; ELECTION.—The Com-14
mittee members shall elect, from among the 15
Committee members— 16
(i) a chair; 17
(ii) a vice chair; 18
(iii) a secretary; and 19
(iv) an assistant secretary. 20
(B) T
ERM OF OFFICE .—Each member 21
elected under subparagraph (A) in a 2-year pe-22
riod referred to in section 1013(b)(2) of title 5, 23
United States Code, shall serve in the capacity 24
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for which the member was so elected, until the 1
end of the 2-year period. 2
(d) N
OCOMPENSATION FOR COMMITTEEMEM-3
BERS.—All Committee members shall— 4
(1) serve without compensation; and 5
(2) while away from the home or regular place 6
of business of the member in the performance of 7
services for the Committee, be allowed travel ex-8
penses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in 9
the same manner as persons employed intermittently 10
in the Government service are allowed expenses 11
under section 5703(b) of title 5, United States Code. 12
(e) F
REQUENCY OF MEETINGS.—The Committee 13
shall meet— 14
(1) not less frequently than twice annually; and 15
(2) at such other times as either Commission 16
may request. 17
(f) D
URATION.—Section 1013(a)(2) of title 5, United 18
States Code, shall not apply to the Committee. 19
(g) T
IMELIMITS.—The Commissions shall— 20
(1) adopt a joint charter for the Committee 21
within 90 days after the date of the enactment of 22
this section; 23
(2) appoint members to the Committee within 24
120 days after such date of enactment; and 25
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(3) hold the initial meeting of the Committee 1
within 180 days after such date of enactment. 2
(h) F
UNDING.—The Commissions shall jointly fund 3
the Committee. 4
(i) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 5
(1) B
LOCKCHAIN.—The term ‘‘blockchain’’ 6
means any technology— 7
(A) where data is— 8
(i) shared across a network to create 9
a public ledger of verified transactions or 10
information among network participants; 11
(ii) linked using cryptography to 12
maintain the integrity of the public ledger 13
and to execute other functions; and 14
(iii) distributed among network par-15
ticipants in an automated fashion to con-16
currently update network participants on 17
the state of the public ledger and any other 18
functions; and 19
(B) composed of source code that is pub-20
licly available. 21
(2) D
IGITAL ASSET.—The term ‘‘digital asset’’ 22
means any fungible digital representation of value 23
that can be exclusively possessed and transferred, 24
person to person, without necessary reliance on an 25
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intermediary, and is recorded on a cryptographically 1
secured public distributed ledger. 2
(3) D
IGITAL ASSET ISSUER.—With respect to a 3
digital asset, the term ‘‘digital asset issuer’’ means 4
any person that, in exchange for any consideration— 5
(A) issues or causes to be issued a unit of 6
such digital asset to a person; or 7
(B) offers or sells a right to a future 8
issuance of a unit of such digital asset to a per-9
son. 10
Æ
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