US Congress Advances Successor to FIT21 Market Structure Bill

House committees have continued to advance work on a successor to the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, better known as FIT21. The original bill passed the House with bipartisan support but did not clear the Senate before the last Congress ended.

The new draft retains the core structure of assigning jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC based on the level of decentralisation of a given network, but incorporates technical refinements sought by both agencies and by industry groups.

Advocates argue that clear market structure legislation is necessary to reduce reliance on enforcement-driven policymaking, while critics worry about weakening investor protections.