The legislation known as FIT21, which would set up a system to govern U.S. crypto markets, is headed toward a House vote, though that may mark the end of this effort.

-A bill to set out a regulatory regime for U.S. cryptocurrency markets will finally get a vote from the overall House of Representatives, said Rep. Patrick McHenry.
-The House Rules Committee approved the legislation for a vote next month, potentially pushing it toward a high-water mark for crypto legislation in the U.S.

The most comprehensive U.S. cryptocurrency legislation to so far make it through a congressional committee will get even further, with the entire House of Representatives set to vote on whether to approve it soon, according to Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

His panel last year had cleared the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, or FIT21, in a bipartisan vote that drew a handful of Democrat supporters in spite of opposition from their ranking member on the committee, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) That bill is on a path toward becoming the first significant digital assets regulatory legislation to clear one of the chambers of Congress now that it's been cleared for a vote next month by the House Rules Committee, according to McHenry.

Though it's a mark of progress to get legislation that far in a highly partisan and combative Congress, the bill is unlikely to find parallel action in the Senate – which is needed for Congress to fully approve legislation and send it to the president to sign into law. That chamber hasn't yet done high-level work on a similar effort, though lawmakers there recently showed some willingness to find a path for another crypto effort: a bill to regulate the issuers of stablecoins.