Rep. Hill calls on Congress to get its ‘act collectively’ on crypto regulation

Congress must get its “act collectively” to manage cryptocurrencies, stated Rep. French Hill, chair of a newly fashioned digital asset-focused Home Monetary Providers subcommittee.

“All of us have a entrance row seat to what occurs in Congress if we don’t get our act collectively,” Hill, R-Ark., stated in pre-recorded remarks on Tuesday on the DC Blockchain Summit. “Companies will depart the U.S. to go elsewhere whereas the businesses are taking main steps to crack down on the crypto blockchain digital asset business.”

Hill stated Congress ought to first pursue laws as a substitute of being “changed by enforcement actions or regulatory steering from the regulatory businesses.” Although he didn’t title names, the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee and significantly the Securities and Alternate Fee have been busy this yr bringing enforcement actions in opposition to crypto companies and people.

The SEC introduced a document quantity of crypto associated enforcement actions in 2022, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down this yr. The SEC moved in opposition to crypto trade Kraken over its staking providers and likewise introduced prices in opposition to Terraform Labs and its CEO Do Kwon final month. Decentralized firm Sushi was additionally just lately reported it was hit with a subpoena from the SEC.

First steps

Congress is at a crossroads, and the first step is to select up on stablecoin laws, Hill stated.

Within the final Congress, now-Home Monetary Providers Committee Chair Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., together with former Chair Maxine Waters, D-Calif., labored behind the scenes to determine a deal on learn how to regulate stablecoins. That draft laws included making a federal framework round stablecoins and briefly banning the forms of fee cash that aren’t backed by exterior property. However McHenry blamed the Treasury Division for holding up the talks.

Now, Hill stated he needs the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to be “constructive companions” in continued work on stablecoins.

The Treasury Division, together with different businesses, launched a stablecoin report in 2021. Whereas Treasury Secretary Yellen stated then that stablecoins have the potential to “help useful fee choices,” she argued {that a} lack of oversight presents dangers to individuals and the bigger system.

“We want Home and Senate Democrats to work with us as a result of that in flip will maybe have an excellent steady working relationship with the Biden administration,” Hill stated. “The Treasury and the Fed have been constructive companions in our stablecoin work final yr and we wish that to proceed.”