Bitcoin Magazine
Stablecoins, Not Bitcoin, In Focus At First U.S. Digital Assets Subcommittee Hearing
On this day, the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets assembled its inaugural hearing, entitled “Exploring Bipartisan Legislative Frameworks for Digital Assets.” During this session, various subcommittee members and witnesses from the cryptocurrency market mostly dealt with the policy of stablecoins.
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), a longstanding supporter for Bitcoin and the digital property sector, chaired the hearing, supported by ranking member Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).
The panel of witnesses consisted of Tim Massad, previous Chair of the CFTC and Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government; Jai Massari, Chief Legal Officer at Lightspark; Jonathan Jachym, Global Head of Policy and Government Relations at Kraken; and Lewis Cohen, Partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP.
Senator Lummis opened the conference by revealing her dedication to advancing bipartisan legislation significant to both Bitcoin and stablecoins. It is notable that the term “Bitcoin” was pointed out rarely, with just one other circumstances happening when Massad revealed his opposition to developing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Throughout the hearing, Massad highlighted the crucial requirement for keeping an eye on stablecoin deals. He promoted for extending the “regulatory perimeter” to take on the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) challenges positioned by stablecoins and proposed the style of wise agreements to decrease dangers related to prospective abuse by bad stars.
“Our entire [Bank Secrecy Act] framework relies on centralized intermediaries.” @timmassad gets in touch with Congress to extend the “regulatory perimeter” and need “stablecoin issuers to aggressively monitor transactions and freeze stablecoins.” pic.twitter.com/Y5TyGRx4i1
— Nick Anthony (@EconWithNick) February 26, 2025
Massad even more recommended programs wise agreements to allow deals just after suitable vetting has actually been performed. He also motivated stablecoin companies to perform strenuous tracking of stablecoin use to determine any AML offenses.
Massari kept in mind that authorities have the ability to keep an eye on stablecoin deals, as these assets run on public blockchains. She promoted for reasonable guidelines surrounding the innovation, supplied that they do not end up being extremely troublesome.
“We have a tendency [when regulating] financial services to take the new thing and cram it into the old,” she said.
Additionally, she required a “common set of standards” for stablecoin companies to guarantee that users can believe in the support of all stablecoins.
Jachym looked for to pivot the conversation towards the Digital Asset Market Structure expense, asserting the requirement for regulative bodies to develop clear standards comparing securities and non-securities amongst digital assets. However, his plea was consulted with minimal interest, as Massad repeated the higher significance of concentrating on stablecoins instead of the marketplace structure expense, arguing that regulators can efficiently control crypto markets within the existing securities structure.
Jachym firmly insisted that “the jurisdictional lines [around] digital assets should be simple” and said that “the lack of regulatory certainty in the U.S. has impeded growth [in the crypto industry].”
Cohen echoed this belief, showing that crypto business owners in the U.S. “feel the consistent danger of lawsuits,” describing the “regulation-by-enforcement” method used by previous SEC Chair Gary Gensler. He even more suggested that this unpredictable regulative environment has actually left both customers and users of digital assets susceptible.
The just individual who straight challenged the U.S. federal government’s disposition to enforce comprehensive policy on digital assets was Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH). He articulated, “The government has this total and complete desire to control things,” even more observing that numerous current innovations have actually been misused, not solely cryptocurrencies.
“Why all of a sudden when we got to digital currencies did we think here in Washington, D.C. that we are going to decide the pace of innovation?” he questioned.
Throughout the session, subcommittee members asked which worldwide jurisdictions the U.S. ought to think about replicating in establishing its regulative structure for digital assets. Massad promoted for Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) structure, which was just recently enacted by the European Union, while Jachym recommended gaining from Wyoming’s legal efforts in the crypto sphere.
While the senators and witnesses provided a variety of perspectives on the topics at hand, a palpable belief emerged: the pushing requirement for bipartisan cooperation to develop clear regulative specifications for the cryptocurrency market.
“Bipartisan support for crypto policy is no longer a distant goal on the horizon,” said Jachym, showing a sense of mindful optimism.
This short article, “Stablecoins, Not Bitcoin, In Focus At First U.S. Digital Assets Subcommittee Hearing,” initially appeared in Bitcoin Magazine and was authored by Frank Corva.
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