Today, the Senate Bank Subcommittee on digital assets organized its first hearing, entitled “Explore Bipartisan Legislative Mark for Digital Assets”, in which certain subcommittee members and witnesses to the cryptographic industry predominantly discussed the regulation of the stable sequence.
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), a long-time proponent of the digital and Bitcoin asset industry, presided over the audience with the assistance of the classification of the subcommittee member, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).
The witnesses included Tim Massad, former president of CFTC and researcher at the Kennedy Government School at Harvard University; Jai Massari, Legal Director of Lightspark; Jonathan Jachym, head of global policy and government relations in Kraken; and Lewis Cohen, partner of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP.
Establishing the tone for the meeting, Senator Lummis declared that he intends to make his part by approving the bipartisan legislation for Bitcoin and Stablecoins. (This was one of the few times during the meeting that the word “Bitcoin” was mentioned. One of the only ones at the audience mentioned was when Massad said that he opposed the creation of a strategic reserve of Bitcoins).
Throughout the audience, Massad emphasized the importance of monitoring Stablecoin transactions. He suggested extending the “regulatory perimeter” to address AML challenges (anti-launching of money) associated with the stable and even proposed that intelligent contracts be designed in a way that mitigates the risk that bad actors will use them.
“[We might] Smart contracts program so that transactions cannot pass unless someone has been properly examined, ”said Massad.
Massad also suggested that Stablecoin’s emitters “aggressively monitor Stablecoin” as a means to be attentive to AML’s violations.
Massari said the authorities can also monitor Stablecoin transactions, since these assets are executed in public blockchains. He also asked for a sensible regulation around technology, provided it is not too heavy.
“We have a trend [when regulating] Financial services to take the new and put it in the old, ”he said.
In addition, she also advocated a “common set of standards” to govern Stablecoin emitters so that users can feel safer that all stablecoins are correctly backed.
Jachym made efforts to change the approach of the Stablecoins audience to the Digital Asset Market Structure Billclaiming that it was “critical” that regulatory agencies build clear guidelines for which digital assets are values and not.
However, he did not receive much absorption. Massad declared that discussing Stablecoins was more important than discussing the bill of market structure, which defends that the market structure bill is not a pressing issue, since regulators can work with existing stock laws to regulate cryptography markets.
Jachym emphasized the point that “jurisdictional lines [around] Digital assets must be simple “and said that” the lack of regulatory certainty in the United States has prevented growth [in the crypto industry.]”
Cohen made a similar statement, stating that cryptographic entrepreneurs in the United States “feel the constant threat of litigation,” referring to former SEC president, Gary Gensler, “Compliance regulation“Approach.
He also shared that “the uncertain regulatory environment has left consumers and users of digital assets at risk.”
The only participant in the hearing that directly retreated the desire of the United States Government of (on) regulating digital assets was Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH).
“The government has this total and complete desire to control things,” said Senator Moreno, who continued to share that several recent technologies have been used for illicit purposes, not just cryptography.
“Why, suddenly, when we reach digital currencies, we think here in Washington, DC that we are going to decide the rhythm of innovation?” Concluded.
Throughout the meeting, subcommittee members asked witnesses what jurisdictions around the world should take signs in the modeling of their regulatory framework of digital assets.
Massad made the case for Europe and the Markets in the regulation of cryptographic assets (Mica) Marco, that the European Union has just put into effect, while Jachym suggested to look at states like Wyoming, where Kraken is based, to learn from cryptographic laws of the State Legislature has approved.
While the senators in the subcommittee and the witnesses present offered several perspectives on the issues discussed, a certain feeling permeates the audience, which was that it is time for politicians on both sides of the hall to join together to create clear rules of the road for the cryptographic industry.
“The bipartisan support for cryptography policy is no longer a distant goal on the horizon,” Jachym said, with a certain sense of relief.
