[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5197 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5197

    To add establish the treatment of managed stablecoins under the 
                securities laws, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 20, 2019

    Ms. Garcia of Texas (for herself and Mr. Gooden) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To add establish the treatment of managed stablecoins under the 
                securities laws, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Managed Stablecoins are Securities 
Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) digital assets, known as managed stablecoins, are 
        investment contracts and therefore are securities within the 
        meaning given the term in section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 
        1933; and
            (2) because issuers of managed stablecoins nevertheless 
        maintain that managed stablecoins are not securities, it is 
        appropriate for Congress to provide clarity by amending 
        statutory definitions of the term security to include managed 
        stablecoins.

SEC. 3. MANAGED STABLECOINS.

    (a) Definitions Under the Securities Act of 1933.--Section 2(a) of 
the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77b(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by inserting ``, regardless of form'' after 
                ``any of the foregoing''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``, managed stablecoin,'' after 
                ``national securities exchange relating to foreign 
                currency''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(20) The term `managed stablecoin' means a digital asset 
        that--
                    ``(A) is not a security registered under section 
                8(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940; and
                    ``(B) satisfies one or more of the following:
                            ``(i) The market value of such digital 
                        asset is determined, in whole or in significant 
                        part, directly or indirectly, by reference to 
                        the value of a pool or basket of assets, 
                        including digital assets, held, designated, or 
                        managed by one or more persons.
                            ``(ii) One or more holders of such digital 
                        asset, directly or indirectly, are entitled to 
                        obtain consideration or other assets, including 
                        other digital assets and any sovereign currency 
                        of a foreign government or the United States, 
                        in exchange for the digital asset, the amount 
                        of which payment is determined, in whole or in 
                        significant part, directly or indirectly, on 
                        the basis of the value of a pool or basket of 
                        assets, including digital assets, held, 
                        designated, or managed by one or more persons.
            ``(21) The term `digital asset' means any asset, contract, 
        agreement or transaction, including a representation of an 
        economic, proprietary, or access right, that is stored in a 
        computer-readable form and has or will have a transaction 
        history that is recorded in a distributed ledger, digital 
        ledger or other digital data structure. A digital asset may be 
        a managed stablecoin and a security.''.
    (b) Definitions Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.--Section 
3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (10)--
                    (A) by inserting ``, regardless of form'' after 
                ``any of the foregoing'';
                    (B) by inserting ``, managed stablecoin'' after 
                ``national securities exchange relating to foreign 
                currency''; and
                    (C) by inserting ``sovereign'' after ``but shall 
                not include''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(81) The term `managed stablecoin' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.
            ``(82) The term `digital asset' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.''.
    (c) Definitions Under the Investment Company Act of 1940.--Section 
2(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-1 et seq.) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (36)--
                    (A) by inserting ``, regardless of form'' after 
                ``any of the foregoing''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``, managed stablecoin'' after 
                ``national securities exchange relating to foreign 
                currency''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(55) The term `managed stablecoin' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.
            ``(56) The term `digital asset' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.''.
    (d) Definitions Under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.--Section 
202(a) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b-1 et seq.) 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (18)--
                    (A) by inserting ``, regardless of form'' after 
                ``any of the foregoing''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``, managed stablecoin'' after 
                ``national securities exchange relating to foreign 
                currency''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(31) The term `managed stablecoin' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.
            ``(32) The term `digital asset' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.''.
    (e) SEC Rulemaking.--The Securities and Exchange Commission may 
issue rules and regulations to further define the terms ``managed 
stablecoin'' and ``digital asset'' as such terms are defined in section 
2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.
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