A rare joint session will take place between the two committees of the US House of Representatives. This will set off a busy period for efforts to create legislation on cryptoassets. Parliament will focus primarily on market regulation for cryptoassets during its morning session on Wednesday.
US House to hold committee hearing for crypto
As Cryptokoin.com reported, the House of Representatives Agriculture and Financial Services Committees will hold a hearing on regulatory gaps for digital assets. The purpose of the session is to explicitly create new laws to govern trading platforms and stablecoins in the US. This unconventional collaboration came as policymakers sought to take action, with broad consensus that more rules were needed for crypto and stablecoin companies in the US.
A series of high-profile firm failures that began with the Luna-Terra collapse last May, months of policy work and years of lobbying add some urgency to this effort. So does the calendar that the House and Senate Agriculture Committees will spend most of their time this year reauthorizing the billions of federal government-run agriculture and food programs that are due to expire in October.
Some issues are the subject of discussion in congress halls. Conversely, crypto is not a fully settled topic yet. This gives new policy-making efforts a chance to become law in a narrowly divided government. Representative Dusty Johnson of the RSD, chair of the Agriculture Committee’s panel that has jurisdiction over digital assets, said during a hearing last month:
This is a place where people love to fight on the turf, Also a city where egos can sometimes get in the way of progress. This collaboration is a testament to the importance that both President McHenry and President Thompson, as well as teams on both sides of the corridor, are putting in getting something done on cryptoassets this Congress.
stop. Collaborate and Listen
After a few quiet months to begin this Congress, talks around new legislation for digital assets have become more public in recent weeks. Republican Patrick McHenry and Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson have valued working together due to the unusual overlap between their committees on crypto. The Financial Services Committee oversees the capital markets and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Agriculture Committee has jurisdiction over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam also testified to a Senate committee in March. He said that stablecoins fall under the jurisdiction of his institution unless there is legislation to the contrary. He also noted that it creates another area of dispute between the commodity regulator and the SEC over digital assets. As such, it adds more urgency for Congress to resolve the issue, he said.
Republicans of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee introduced a new bill on stablecoins late last month to advance the stalemate debate over new rules for payment assets. Wednesday morning’s joint session will focus on regulatory gaps for cryptocurrencies, trying to build around existing rules and ideas rather than starting from scratch. Participants include former CFTC Chairman Tim Massad, now Harvard faculty Michael Blaugrund, Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange, and Marco Santori, Kraken Chief Legal Officer.
measured enthusiasm
Industry advocates are cautiously optimistic that crypto-asset legislation has a better chance of passing Congress and becoming law this year with the signature of President Joe Biden than most other bills. A few more crypto-related hearings are expected this summer. Also, McHenry said last month that the Treasury Department once again contacted him and his team about stablecoins after hitting a stalemate last year.
However, it is not yet clear whether D-Ohio Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, whose committee also has jurisdiction, will agree to act on a bill if it passes the House. The Ohio Democrat is a crypto skeptic who says he will consider SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s views on the matter. But he and his team have worked more on cryptocurrency policy so far.
An industry advocate who has followed the bills said his excitement changed from week to week. But on Tuesday he said he was optimistic. In this context, “It will be a very busy summer. “We’ll see if the Senate Banking will consider this bill,” he added.
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