Senate Draft Would Bar Exchanges From Counting Their Tokens as Financial Resources

Sen. Cynthia Lummis said Democrats want the stalled Digital Asset Market Clarity Act to bar exchanges from counting digital commodities they or their affiliates originated toward required financial resources.

The Senate draft would exclude those commodities from the resources a digital commodity exchange must maintain. The provision governs how exchanges meet financial requirements; it does not prohibit them from creating tokens.

Lummis framed the restriction as a Democratic demand and compared tokens created to meet financial requirements with FTX’s conduct before its collapse.

The same Senate draft also would require exchanges to submit annual financial statements certified by an independent public accountant to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and retain business records, including an audit trail, for five years. The plan is detailed in an earlier report on the exchange filing requirements.

On Sept. 15, the Senate voted 49-50 against invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to the broader bill. The draft containing these exchange provisions was to be offered as a substitute only if that motion succeeded. Senators did not vote separately on the token restriction.