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Lawmakers Frustrated by Slow Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Bills – MeriTalk
Two leading congressional voices on cryptocurrency this week reaffirmed their support for creating a regulatory framework to oversee digital assets and expressed frustration with the slow pace of cryptocurrency legislation in Congress.
“I was a little frustrated because we have to work. That’s Congress’s job… We should regulate this industry,” she told Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on May 15. Blockchain Summit 2024 in Washington, DC
“We should be creating the rules of the road,” Gillibrand said, “and we should be able to figure out how to create a sustainable, innovative industry that has the right kind of guardrails so that innovation stays in the United States.”
Her colleague across the aisle, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wy., echoed that sentiment when she spoke during a fireside chat with Gillibrand.
“In Europe there is a more well understood regulatory framework. And it’s more mature than the United States,” Lummis said. “It’s a terrible shame. This country is the incubator of innovation. We have always been like this. And so to take this particular industry, still in its infancy, and make sure that it doesn’t thrive here, but thrives elsewhere in the world is truly tragic.”
Gillibrand and Lummis partnered in a high-profile Senate run in 2022 I count which sought to define a regulatory landscape for digital assets. The legislation would maintain the status quo on current federal oversight of some cryptocurrency exchanges for now, but it would also set the stage for a much broader examination of how and whether the federal government should create regulatory structures for a broader range of digital assets that includes cryptocurrency. .
The pair reintroduced the July 2023 bill with amendments that they say added consumer protections and safeguards to strengthen the industry against fraud and bad actors.
Most recently, in April of this year Gillibrand and Lummis introduced legislation to create a regulatory framework for a narrower aspect of the digital asset landscape: “stablecoin” cryptocurrencies. They are cryptocurrencies of which value is tied to currencies, commodities or other financial instruments.
Lummis said at the May 15 blockchain summit that she and Gillibrand were both “getting signals that stablecoin legislation would have the momentum to move forward.”
But it’s unclear when cryptocurrency legislation might advance in Congress. Although cryptocurrencies he gathered Earlier this year, with Bitcoin hitting an all-time high, the sector was hit by the collapse of several major cryptocurrency companies.
One was FTX, whose founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was recently founded condemned to 25 years in prison after being convicted of fraud and criminal conspiracy.
Blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrencies, was also featured at the summit, with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-C., calling for passage of her recent blockchain legislation.
The bill would leverage blockchain technology for Border Security Operations, directing the Department of Homeland Security to implement a public blockchain-based system that improves data security and operational efficiency across U.S. borders.
But like his Senate colleagues, Mace said it can be difficult to get other members of Congress to focus on the industry and its complexities.
“Evaluating blockchain technology and Congress can sometimes feel like you’re watching paint dry,” he said. “For some of my colleagues, the word blockchain is too futuristic. For them it’s like piloting a flying car.”
He encouraged members of the public to “reach out to your members of Congress or United States Senators and be an active voice in the digital corridor and for the future of blockchain.”