* From February…

Illinois has approximately 1,626 crypto currency kiosks, according to a 2024 report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). These kiosks are unregulated and providing an opportunity for out-of-state actors to facilitate illegal activity and scam seniors and others.

The Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act and the Digital Asset Kiosk Law collectively will establish new consumer protections for Illinois residents that use or invest in cryptocurrency. These proposals will protect consumers from scams, hinder money laundering, require transparency, and ensure proper safeguarding of investors’ assets.

The Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act will establish regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency companies to protect consumers and investors, similar to the regulations that already apply to more than 3,200 Illinois banks, credit unions, and other traditional financial services firms.

More here, but the bill was amended last night. It’s similar to Sen. Mark Walker’s bill, which cleared a Senate committee last week…

Senate Bill 1797, also known as the Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act, would allow the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to manage guidelines that crypto companies must follow. Through Walker’s bill, IDFPR would be able to adopt rules to protect consumer assets and investments.

Under Senate Bill 1797, cryptocurrency companies would be required to register, provide disclosures and demonstrate the fitness to satisfy payouts. The bill would also require companies to notify their consumers of any charges or transfers of their digital assets, and to build programs to reduce consumer fraud.

That Senate bill will also be amended today to make it identical to the House bill. “It’s significant in adding to the list of block chain developers and users who would be exempt from this bill,” Sen. Walker said, explaining those folks are “less likely to engage in or be associated with consumer fraud.” The change was made “at the requests from the industry.”

* From last night…

After Governor JB Pritzker’s Administration testified in strong support of a legislative overreach in the Illinois House Financial Institutions Committee tonight to overregulate and end the Crypto Currency industry (HB742) in Illinois, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie issued the following statement:

“This is a ridiculous bill. I cannot stress enough – Illinois families deserve to be the priority, not Governor Pritzker’s presidential ambitions. Our state is facing real problems, and instead of addressing the chaos under his watch, he is wasting time with political grandstanding. Our state is facing real problems that deserve serious solutions, and Crypto Currency is not one of them.”

The new amendment is here.

* Earlier today…

At a House Financial Institutions Committee meeting yesterday, Amendment 2 to HB 742 was passed on a partisan basis (8-4). The legislation will now move to the House Floor for further consideration.

HB 742 creates the Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act and would enact strict regulation and supervision of the Digital Asset and Crypto industries in Illinois. House Republican members of the committee all opposed the bill and the new amendment, citing continued government overreach and political motivations.

“This legislation represents more of an attack on the industry than an attempt to regulate it,” explained State Representative Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva). “This goes a lot further than just examining someone’s books. It’s obvious that this is a politically-motivated move by the Governor and is directed at the current administration in Washington. Cryptocurrency and this type of industry should be regulated at the federal level to avoid a patchwork of 50 different laws. This type of overreach, which we have seen time and again from Democrats, can stifle innovation and drive businesses away from our state.”

* Isabel asked Gov. Pritzker about the bill today…

Isabel: I wanted to ask you about Rep. Gonzalez’s digital asset regulation bill that passed committee yesterday. Your administration is backing it. Opponents say that the bill won’t stop overseas or unlicensed crypto from scamming people and could harm the Illinois crypto industry. What are your thoughts on that?

Pritzker: Still being worked through in the legislature, so I don’t want to talk about, you know, what might change in the bill. I can just say that we do want to make sure that we have reasonable regulations in the crypto world. And as you know, there’s also a related bill having to do with the the the kiosks, and dealing with that. So we’ll see how that all comes together. And I don’t think the legislation is done yet.

Isabel: Do you have confidence in IDFPR to regulate crypto? They’ve had some hiccups in the past with…

Pritzker: They do a good job with the banking arena, which is what this really would be. So, you know, I think they’ll do a good job.