- Details of SEC Hearing with Financial Services Committee of U.S House of Assembly Revealed
- Members of the Financial Services Committee Share a Similar View Regarding Incorporating Crypto into the Economy
Yesterday, there was a report about a hearing of the chairman and four commissioners of the SEC under the oversight of the Financial Services committee of the U.S national assembly. The congressional hearing deliberated on several issues plaguing the digital asset space and new ways to effectively regulate cryptos. This has been the trend since social media giant Facebook, revealed that it will be launching the Libra stablecoin in June 2019. Details of the hearing are highlighted below.
Members of the Financial Services Committee Share a Similar View Regarding Incorporating Crypto into the Economy
One consistent position among the members of the committee is the issue of figuring out the status of digital assets. As quickly as possible to say the least. There hasn’t been any reasonable reason given why there hasn’t been a clear course of action despite the many congressional hearings. There hasn’t been a compromise regarding how to incorporate cryptos into the country’s financial system.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Today – BTC / USD
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The Financial Services Committee isn’t interested in extreme measures like banning Facebook’s Libra. The committee would struggle if they decide to embark on such an agenda. Broadly speaking, the House Financial Services Committee have been guarded yet curious about cryptos (although hostility toward Facebook’s initiative).
It is the duty of the Chairman of the SEC to ensure that securities laws and regulations are more the subject matter than what can be expected from congressmen. Despite this SEC chairman deferred to future prosecution instead of legislation or declarations from the federal regulator.
Legislation will come eventually, although it is highly unlikely that Congress will be the first party to make a move in this regard. We can expect to see more congressional hearings. Similarly, it is probably a foolish idea to wait for any form of grand initiatives from the SEC commissioners, although the commission is already taking some decisive steps in the courts. They are gaining approvals and using already existing laws and limiting grandiose statements to cub the issue.
Looking at it in another direction, we can see that the federal regulator has concluded a large number of cases against the ICO’s conducted from 2017 through the early part of last year. With many of these ICO’s ending in settlements of $10 million+.
Even without any change to formal rules, the SEC’s past cases demonstrate that the regulator has the willingness to clamp down on bad actors. For now, this will have to precede any new law in the making.
Max writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on United States and China. He joined Smarterum after years of writing for various media outlets.
