Representatives of major cryptocurrency firms on Wednesday told US lawmakers that they are open to strengthening regulation of the emerging sector.
In the first hearing of its kind before the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Coinbase Global Inc chief financial officer Alesia Haas called on the US government to develop “a new comprehensive framework that recognizes the unique technological innovations underpinning digital assets.”
A single government regulator should oversee cryptocurrency “to ensure holders of digital assets are empowered and protected,” she said.
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The US has become increasingly interested in regulating cryptocurrencies, as bitcoin and its peers have gained value and popularity.
However, the issue has been caught in the country’s partisan divide, with Republicans using the hearing to warn against excessive regulations on the sector.
“My fear is some of my Democrat colleagues have made up their minds, and they have regulatory bills that they’re going to file in order to stifle this innovation or to kill it before it fully grows and blossoms,” US Representative Patrick McHenry said.
However, several executives representing trading platforms and the digital currencies noted that they are already subject to government regulation.
FTX Trading Ltd founder and CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried said that some of the platform’s products are under the regulatory authority of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which handles derivatives. Coinbase is in a similar situation.
Circle Internet Financial Inc, which issues the USDC stablecoin that is at parity with the US dollar, would soon file for a banking license that would put it squarely under Washington’s regulatory authority, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said.
BitFury Group Ltd CEO Brian Brooks, whose firm provides infrastructure for the bitcoin blockchain, warned that the US was falling behind when it comes to regulating the new technology.
“It’s weird we’re the last country standing that hasn’t figured that out,” he said.
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