The US Congress needs to take control of crypto legislation to make it a “more open process” where the entire market is considered “comprehensively”, the head of the leading US crypto industry body suggests.
February 22. Bloomberg ConversationBlockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said the industry needs US lawmakers to drive cryptocurrency legislation, although the process is “very slow” and regulators are “stepping in” in the interim.
Smith noted that despite regulators “moving very quickly”, progress on legislation was being made “behind closed doors”, suggesting it was vital for greater industry involvement in the “open process” that would be seen in Congress.
Smith believes the problem with regulators leading the legislation with enforcement actions and settlements has to do with “very specific facts and circumstances.”
She explained that it’s a difficult position for Congress to be in right now, as many in Washington DC who “were close” to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX feel “burnt” and “betrayed” by the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange in November. 2022.
Smith hopes so regulation of stablecoins will soon happen in the US, with Congress looking at it “as of 2019” and “the work has been done.” She said it was “closer” to what happened last year before the FTX collapse.
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She further added that crypto risks are different from traditional financial services, so it is vital that regulators spend more time regulating the market and “adapting to these risks”.
Smith suggested that regulating stablecoins and “market parties” should be a higher priority than focusing on legitimate crypto-related criminal activity, saying that public ledgers make it “much more transparent” than we see in the traditional financial system.
This comes after Blockchain Association Chief Policy Officer Jake Chervinsky tweeted on February 15th that it doesn’t matter how much enforcement action the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) bring is “bound by legal reality,” adding that “neither” has the authority to “comprehensively regulate cryptocurrencies.”
