Over the past several weeks, Congress – specifically the House Financial Services Committee – has held several hearings on crypto and its role in the world. Even a hearing reportedly focused on oversight of the US Securities and Exchange Commission saw questions mostly on crypto and climate issues instead. Tomorrow, we will see another hearing with the House Agriculture Committee, specifically discussing crypto regulation.
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Explanation
“Regulatory clarity”, the way the crypto industry defines it, can come in one of two ways: either a federal regulator provides formal guidance and addresses one or the other concern, or Congress issues those concerns. Passes defining legislation. Regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have released some proposed rules (in some cases sparking backlash from the industry), but hopes generally centered on Congress potentially taking action. we are going to watch another hearing Launch this week on what the crypto market hopes to address.
why it matters
Congress is grappling with the idea of crypto regulation. What the new guidance will look like in practice is still up in the air, but lawmakers are putting another emphasis on the question on Wednesday.
break it
We don’t know for sure if any actual legislation will move forward this year. The industry’s expectation was that a stablecoin bill would have the greatest chance of success in case it became law. Those hopes were pretty dashed during a hearing on stablecoins earlier this month, when Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, said the bill had been under consideration since last October. reflects – and that, in his view, the committee needed to “start from scratch”.
Of course, it never seemed like the Senate Banking Committee was anywhere close to publicly engaging with the bill, but the fact that the House had a bipartisan product suggested there was a chance. He is dead now.
Despite this, lawmakers appear optimistic about the prospect of a bill being signed into law next year.
At the second week’s 2023 Consensus, I asked Congressman Patrick McHenry (RN.C.), chairman of the Financial Services Committee, if he thinks there’s a path to becoming law this year.
He said “yes,” and said there would be a new bill addressing market structure issues. submitted within two months,
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), the other legislator on stage with me, seemed equally optimistic.
From the House perspective, the next step toward legislation is still Wednesday’s hearing, which begins at 9:30 a.m. ET and will feature former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman and current Harvard Research Fellow Timothy Massad, RepublicCrypto chief Andrew Derge. , Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hell and. Door Partner Matthew Culkin, Kraken Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori and Web3 Foundation Chief Legal Officer Daniel Schoenberger.
In his written testimonyMassad said one issue is the lack of a federal spot market regulator for non-securities cryptocurrencies, and there is debate over how to classify whether a given crypto is a security.
“SEC Chairman Gary Gensler says that most tokens are securities and the problem is the lack of compliance with existing legal requirements. Industry participants have complained about the lack of clarity in regulations to address this issue and specifically have called for regulators to create a new set of rules for crypto,” he said. “Meanwhile trading and lending platforms claim they are only dealing in tokens that are not securities – thereby avoiding direct federal oversight. As a result, investor protections on crypto trading and lending platforms remain inadequate.” than is insufficient.
Massad proposed Congress pass a law creating certain principles and standards by which every exchange must adhere, regardless of whether the token is listed or a commodity.
Doing so, he argued, would negate the need to expand the definition of securities laws to include the entire crypto market, or to create a new category system for digital assets.
also has the ability to listen a joint proposed resolution Stating that Congress should provide further guidance to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on how to bring existing regulatory protections to the crypto sector.
monday
- 14:00 UTC (10:00 ET) A hearing in the ongoing BlockFi bankruptcy case took place, though any decision has been postponed until Thursday.
Tuesday
- 12:30 UTC (2:30 pm CET) The French Senate will hold a hearing on influencers in crypto.
- 15:00 UTC (11:00 am ET) A federal court will sentence Ishan Wahi, the former Coinbase employee who pleaded guilty to insider trading charges.
Wednesday
- 13:30 UTC (9:30 am ET) The House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees will hold their first joint hearing on digital assets. Patrick McHenry (RN.C.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, announced the joint hearings in Consensus last month.
Thursday
- At 14:30 UTC (10:30 am ET) New York Southern District Bankruptcy Court Judge Lewis Kaplan will rule on certain types of withdrawals and whether they should be allowed in the ongoing BlockFi case.
- ,ledge, I thought it was an interesting snapshot of the Internet 25 years after Google’s launch.
- ,Bloomberg, Shaquille O’Neal’s attorneys say process server attempting to serve lawsuit threw him over his car, which he was driving at the time (lawyer behind lawsuit) last state The basketball player was “hiding” from the server).
Shaq is now dismissing FTX lawsuit, saying summons papers were thrown at his car, lolhttps://t.co/CRuo0EEtL5
— Sarah Emerson (@SarahNEmerson) May 9, 2023
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