US Congress members push for 'critical' NFT protection measures in revised encryption bill

According to Decrypt, two US congressmen are pushing for the inclusion of legal protection for NFTs in a broad bill to create a more reasonable regulatory framework for digital assets. South Carolina Republican Congressman William Timmons has stated that he is attempting to incorporate the New Frontier Technology Act (NFT Act) into a revised version of the so-called Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), which was passed by the House last year but has not yet been approved by the Senate. The NFT Act, proposed by Timmons and New York Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres in December of last year, would designate certain NFTs as non securities, covering art, video game assets and memberships, as well as other consumer areas outlined in the bill text. The bill will also instruct the US Auditor General to study whether NFTs can be used as representatives of documents, identification, and even government records in a commercial environment. Previously, under the leadership of former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, NFTs were largely in a legal gray area. Now, within the SEC, Republican commissioners believe that many enforcement actions against NFT projects authorized by Gensler are unreasonable.