President Joe Biden’s contentious veto to halt Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 might face reversal by the House of Representatives next week.
SAB 121, a proposed regulation mandating that SEC-reporting entities holding cryptocurrencies record these assets on their balance sheets, currently resides on the House’s “legislation that may be considered” roster, according to a weekly schedule released by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. The House is constitutionally obligated to vote on overturning or sustaining presidential vetoes, with voting expected on either Tuesday, July 9, or Wednesday, July 10.
A resolution to nullify the SEC’s SAB 121 directive garnered bipartisan backing in both the House (228-182 votes) and Senate (60-38) in May before President Biden vetoed it later that month. Critics argue that SAB 121 could hinder American banks from effectively managing cryptocurrency exchange-traded products, potentially heightening “concentration risk” by increasing control over these products to non-bank entities.
However, achieving a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate is necessary to override Biden’s veto. In May, only 55.6% and 61.2% of House and Senate members, respectively, supported the resolution, highlighting the need for increased Democratic support this time around.
Alexander Grieve, a government affairs specialist at cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm, noted, “It’s a steep hill to climb but not insurmountable, given the bipartisan nature of the previous vote.”
The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which aims to clarify how U.S. commodities and securities regulators handle cryptocurrency-related issues, was passed by the House with a 279-136 vote in May.
Meanwhile, both President Biden and former Republican candidate Donald Trump are intensifying their campaign efforts ahead of the 2024 presidential election in November. Both candidates have recently heightened their focus on digital asset-related matters, a trend hailed as positive for the industry by Kerri Langlais, chief security officer at Bitcoin miner TeraWulf, in a recent interview with Cointelegraph.
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