I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6154 
To clarify which Federal agencies regulate digital assets, to require those 
agencies to notify the public of any Federal licences, certifications, or 
registrations required to create or trade in such assets, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 9, 2020 
Mr. GOSAR introduced 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 clarify which Federal agencies regulate digital assets, 
to require those agencies to notify the public of any 
Federal licences, certifications, or registrations required 
to create or trade in such assets, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crypto-Currency Act 
of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) CRYPTO-COMMODITY.—The term ‘‘crypto- 
commodity’’ means economic goods or services, in-
cluding derivatives, that— 
(A) have full or substantial fungibility; 
(B) the markets treat with no regard as to 
who produced the goods or services; and 
(C) rest on a blockchain or decentralized 
cryptographic ledger. 
(2) CRYPTO-CURRENCY.—The term ‘‘crypto- 
currency’’ means representations of United States 
currency or synthetic derivatives resting on a 
blockchain or decentralized cryptographic ledger, in-
cluding— 
(A) such representations or synthetic de-
rivatives that are reserve-backed digital assets 
that are fully collateralized in a correspondent 
banking account, such as stablecoins; and 
(B) synthetic derivatives that are— 
(i) determined by decentralized oracles 
or smart contracts; and 
(ii) collateralized by crypto-commod-
ities, other crypto-currencies, or crypto-se-
curities. 
(3) CRYPTO-SECURITY.— 
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(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘crypto-secu-
rity’’ means all debt and equity that rest on a 
blockchain or decentralized cryptographic ledg-
er. 
(B) EXCEPTION.—The term ‘‘crypto-secu-
rity’’ does not include a synthetic derivative 
that— 
(i) is operated as, and is registered 
with the Department of the Treasury as, a 
money services business (as defined under 
section 1010.100 of title 31, Code of Fed-
eral Regulations); and 
(ii) is operated in compliance with all 
applicable requirements of subchapter II of 
chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code 
(commonly referred to as the ‘‘Bank Se-
crecy Act’’) and all other Federal anti- 
money 
laundering, 
anti-terrorism, 
and 
screening requirements of the Office of 
Foreign Assets Control and the Financial 
Crimes Enforcement Network. 
(4) DECENTRALIZED
CRYPTOGRAPHIC
LEDG-
ER.—The term ‘‘decentralized cryptographic ledger’’ 
means a ledger that— 
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(A) runs as a stand-alone blockchain that 
is secured through a minting mechanism such 
as proof-of-work, proof-of-stake, or otherwise; 
(B) runs as a cryptographic asset or 
smart-contract on an existing stand-alone 
blockchain and is secured through the issuing 
blockchain minting mechanism; 
(C) is immutable and can not be overwrit-
ten without controlling a majority stake of the 
associated network; 
(D) requires a cryptographic link between 
blocks of transactional data; 
(E) is permissionless, requiring no third 
party to transact, only a connection to the 
internet; 
(F) is an irreversible bearer commodity, 
with all transactions being final; 
(G) is not controllable by any one single 
entity (defined as having less than half of all 
nodes controlled by one single entity); and 
(H) is not directly issued by a nation-state 
or private entity. 
(5) DECENTRALIZED ORACLE.—The term ‘‘de-
centralized oracle’’ means a service that sends and 
verifies real world data from external sources outside 
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of a blockchain and submits such information to 
smart contracts that rest on the blockchain, thus 
triggering the execution of predefined functions of 
the smart contract. 
(6) DIGITAL ASSET.—The term ‘‘digital asset’’ 
means a crypto-commodity, crypto-currency, or 
crypto-security. 
(7) INSURED DEPOSITORY INSTITUTION.—The 
term ‘‘insured depository institution’’ has the mean-
ing given such term under section 3 of the Federal 
Deposit Insurance Act. 
(8) PRIMARY FEDERAL DIGITAL ASSET REGU-
LATOR.—The term ‘‘primary Federal digital asset 
regulator’’ means— 
(A) the Commodity Futures Trading Com-
mission, with respect to crypto-commodities; 
(B) the Secretary of the Treasury, acting 
through the Financial Crimes Enforcement 
Network, and the Comptroller of the Currency 
with respect to crypto-currencies; and 
(C) the Securities and Exchange Commis-
sion, with respect to crypto-securities. 
(9) RESERVE-BACKED STABLECOIN.—The term 
‘‘reserve-backed stablecoin’’ means a digital asset 
that— 
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(A) is a representation of currency issued 
by the United States or a foreign government; 
(B) rests on a blockchain or decentralized 
cryptographic ledger; and 
(C) is collateralized on a one-to-one basis 
by such currency, and such currency is depos-
ited in an insured depository institution. 
(10) SMART CONTRACT.—The term ‘‘smart con-
tract’’ means a computer protocol intended— 
(A) to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce 
the negotiation or performance of a contract; 
and 
(B) to allow the performance of credible 
transactions without third parties. 
(11) SYNTHETIC STABLECOIN.—The term ‘‘syn-
thetic stablecoin’’ means a digital asset, other than 
a reserve-backed stablecoin, that— 
(A) is stabilized against the value of a cur-
rency or other asset; and 
(B) rests on a blockchain or decentralized 
cryptographic ledger. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHING AREAS OF PRIMARY REGULATORY 
OVERSIGHT FOR DIGITAL ASSETS. 
(a) CRYPTO-COMMODITIES.—The Commodity Fu-
tures Trading Commission shall be the primary Govern-
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ment agency with the authority to regulate crypto-com-
modities. 
(b) CRYPTO-CURRENCIES.—The Secretary of the 
Treasury, acting through the Financial Crimes Enforce-
ment Network, and the Comptroller of the Currency shall 
be the primary Government agencies with the authority 
to regulate crypto-currencies (other than synthetic 
stablecoins). 
(c) CRYPTO-SECURITIES.—The Securities and Ex-
change Commission shall be the primary Government 
agency with the authority to regulate crypto-securities and 
synthetic stablecoins. 
SEC. 4. REGISTRATION AND PUBLIC LISTS OF DIGITAL 
ASSET EXCHANGES. 
(a) CRYPTO-COMMODITIES.—The Commodity Fu-
tures Trading Commission shall require any exchange 
trading in crypto-commodities to register with the Com-
mission, and shall maintain a public list of all such ex-
changes. 
(b) CRYPTO-CURRENCIES.—The Secretary of the 
Treasury, acting through the Financial Crimes Enforce-
ment Network, shall require any exchange trading in 
crypto-currencies (other than synthetic stablecoins) to reg-
ister with the Secretary, and shall maintain a public list 
of all such exchanges. 
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(c) CRYPTO-SECURITIES.—The Securities and Ex-
change Commission shall maintain a public list of all reg-
istered national securities exchanges trading in crypto-se-
curities or synthetic stablecoins. 
SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC 
ON REQUIREMENTS TO CREATE OR TRADE IN 
DIGITAL ASSETS. 
Each primary Federal digital asset regulator shall, 
with respect to digital assets over which it is the primary 
Federal digital asset regulator, make available to the pub-
lic (and keep current) a list of all Federal licenses, certifi-
cations, or registrations required to create or trade in dig-
ital assets. 
SEC. 
6. 
REQUIREMENTS 
RELATED 
TO 
CRYPTO-CUR-
RENCIES. 
(a) TRACING OF TRANSACTIONS.—Notwithstanding 
section 3(c), the Secretary of the Treasury, acting through 
the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, shall issue 
rules to require each crypto-currency (including synthetic 
stablecoins) to allow for the tracing of transactions in the 
crypto-currency and persons engaging in such transactions 
in a manner similar to that required of financial institu-
tions with respect to currency transactions under sub-
chapter II of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code. 
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(b) RESERVE-BACKED STABLECOIN AUDITS.—The 
Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the Financial 
Crimes Enforcement Network, shall carry out audits of 
each reserve-backed stablecoin to ensure that such 
stablecoin is fully backed by currency issued by the United 
States or a foreign government. 
(c) TRANSITION RULE FOR STABLECOINS.—If an 
event (including a dilution event, technical hack, or con-
certed choice) causes a reserve-backed stablecoin to be-
come a synthetic stablecoin or for a synthetic stable to 
become a reserve-backed stablecoin, the primary Federal 
digital asset regulator of the stablecoin shall notify the 
issuer of the stablecoin and the public of such transition. 
Æ 
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