The U.S. Congress has scheduled a hearing on cryptocurrency legislation
Two committees of the US House of Representatives held the first-ever joint hearing on Wednesday.
Some US congressmen still show uncertainty about whether cryptocurrency assets deserve preferential treatment and dedicated legislation. Primarily for this reason, two committees of the US House of Representatives held the first-ever joint hearing related to the digital currency sector on Wednesday. The main purpose of the meeting was to develop an initial regulatory framework on cryptocurrency legislation.
The US Congress held a hearing on digital currencies
It is no secret that the US is currently lagging behind in terms of regulatory clarity regarding the digital currency sector. Recently, however, the US Congress held an important hearing with two committees. This project concerned the establishment of new legislation related to the cryptocurrency industry.
It turns out that some Democrats strongly question whether a new legal framework for regulating the cryptocurrency industry and blockchain technology is needed at all. Others believe that innovation should be used appropriately, thus providing legal protection for consumers.
Another very important issue to discuss was that the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission should work together to ensure long-term and effective protection for consumers. This is because both of these agencies currently have extremely opposing approaches to digital currencies, which is causing a lot of confusion in the industry. It is worth mentioning here that while the CFTC claims that Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) are commodities, the SEC considers every digital currency except the oldest one to be a security.
Although for some it seems redundant and unnecessary to create new regulations to regulate the cryptocurrency sector, others believe that the long-standing regulations in the field of securities, created before the Internet did not exist, should in no way be applied to innovations such as cryptocurrency industry.
The future of cryptocurrencies in the United States is uncertain
At the end of the hearing in the House of Representatives, Californian Democrat and strong critic of digital currencies - Brad Sherman began to present a view on whether digital assets such as cryptocurrencies should have any future in the US territory. He believes that the primary purpose of digital currencies is to circumvent sanctions imposed by the US government, as well as to violate tax regulations.
In turn, the Chairman of the HFSC, Patrick McHenry, assumed that the current SEC approach to the cryptocurrency industry does not work properly and professionally. In the opinion of this politician, it is the CFTC that needs additional powers over this innovative sector. He added, however, that in the current state of law, the agencies themselves cannot do much, because according to American regulations, it is the US Congress that has to come up with a legislative initiative in this regard.
