The Senate voted to cancel a Securities and Exchange Commission accounting policy rule related to cryptocurrency, sending it to President Joe Biden, who has said he will veto it.
The Senate voted 60-38 for a joint resolution that would nix the SEC policy. Several Democrats joined Republicans in voting to cancel the rule. The lawmakers used the Congressional Review Act to bat down the measure, but Biden still has the power to veto it, meaning that the vote was more symbolic in nature.
The resolution would cancel an accounting policy known as the Staff Accounting Bulletin 121.
That measure was intended to inform businesses about how to account for their cryptocurrency assets and said they should keep their assets on their own balance sheets. Opponents have argued that such a policy discourages companies and major custodians from holding crypto assets for customers.
The Congressional Review Act resolution already passed the House in a bipartisan 228-182 vote, with 21 Democrats joining Republicans in pushing to cancel the rule.
In a statement of administration policy threatening a veto, White House officials said the SEC crypto accounting provision “reflects considered SEC staff views” on the matter.
“Moreover, as explained in staff’s accompanying release, SAB 121 was issued in response to demonstrated technological, legal, and regulatory risks that have caused substantial losses to consumers,” the memo reads.
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Ahead of the vote, some groups have come out against the SEC rule. Former Rep. Barbara Comstock, executive director of the American Consumer and Investor Institute, said the accounting rule is “another misguided SEC policy” that has garnered bipartisan opposition.
“The rule itself is a disaster for retail investors, essentially precluding regulated banks from providing safe custody of digital assets,” she said in a statement.
