The US House of Representatives could not gather enough support to override President Joe Biden’s veto of a resolution affecting a Securities and Exchange Commission rule on banks recording cryptocurrency as a liability on their balance sheets.
In a July 11 vote, 228 House members voted to override President Biden’s veto of H.J.Res. 109, overturning SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 121 — 60 votes short of the two-thirds majority required. The failed vote suggested that the veto would likely stand, and US banks would be limited from serving as crypto custodians for their customers, barring future legislation.
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“It did not have to be this way,” said Representative Patrick McHenry on July 10 before a potential vote. “On digital assets, on the regulation of digital assets, on the functioning of a new asset class that a substantial number of Americans and the world are using. [...] The Biden administration has been given every opportunity to work with this Congress on digital asset policy and to come to a reasonable resolution on digital asset policy.”
“The crypto industry and its allies have long chided the SEC for not providing enough clarity for how crypto assets should be regulated,” said Representative Maxine Waters, citing opposition to SAB 121. “It’s just that the industry didn’t like the answer they got.”
On May 8, President Biden said he would veto H.J.Res. 109 just hours before it passed in the House for the first time with support from 21 Democratic representatives: a vote of 228 to 182. The Senate followed the House’s example, voting 60 to 38 in favor of the resolution on May 16. The US president vetoed the legislation on May 31.
Since taking office in 2021, President Biden has issued 12 vetoes, none of which have been overridden by Congress. The last time US lawmakers in the House overrode a presidential veto was in December 2020 under Donald Trump, with the National Defense Authorization Act.
Crypto as a political issue
Many cryptocurrency advocates have criticized the Biden administration for taking action against legislation favoring the industry, such as the joint resolution. The White House and SEC also released a statement opposing the passage of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act — a bill to clarify digital asset regulation.
Related: FIT21 bill a ‘watershed moment’ for crypto despite CFTC-SEC friction
The vote followed policymakers, including Representatives Ro Khanna and Joe Neguse and Biden adviser Anita Dunn, discussing crypto in a roundtable meeting with industry leaders. Reports initially suggested that President Biden would attend the event, but his July 10 schedule showed no plans to do so. Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Sheila Warren described the roundtable as a “productive step forward” in approaching crypto as a nonpartisan issue.
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