US Senators are advancing a bill to enhance oversight of cryptocurrencies

The bipartisan authors of a Senate bill that would enhance oversight of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin that are regarded as digital commodities in the US intend to move forward with the legislation.

The strongest industry supporter of the legislation, dubbed the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act, was embattled FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

The proposed legislation would increase the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, one of the two U.S. market regulators, over cryptocurrency exchanges and markets.

“The recent collapse of a major cryptocurrency exchange reinforces the urgent need for greater federal oversight of this industry,” Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said in a statement, adding that “Consumers continue to be harmed by the lack of transparency and accountability in this market. It is time for Congress to act.”

In order to complete the bill in time for a committee vote, Stabenow added that she is collaborating with regulators and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., her Republican counterpart on the committee.

In his own statement on Thursday night, Boozman vowed to advance the bill.

Both urged regulators to use the tools at their disposal to pursue wrongdoing in the digital asset sector.

The bill has divided business. Outside of Bankman-Fried, some are subtly in favor of more definite regulatory guidelines for ether and, most likely, bitcoin.

Others gleefully declared it “dead” as soon as FTX crashed, and they had already voiced their opposition to the idea behind closed doors before tension over the legislation broke out in the open on crypto Twitter.

In the wake of FTX’s shocking collapse, the heads of the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees have also called for new legislation to help regulate the sector.