The House Committee on Financial Services has posted the February hearing schedule and digital assets are on the list. According to an email from the Committee on February 8, 10 AM ET, a hearing will be held entitled “Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets’ Report on Stablecoins.”
The President’s Working Group (PWG) published a report on digital assets at the end of 2021. The report stated that digital asset regulations fall under the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as these two agencies “have broad enforcement, rulemaking, and oversight authorities that may address certain of these concerns.”
The report added that depending on the structure, stablecoins, or certain parts of stablecoin arrangements, could be considered securities, commodities, and/or derivatives.
At that time, Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen said that “Treasury and the agencies involved in this report look forward to working with Members of Congress from both parties on this issue. While Congress considers action, regulators will continue to operate within their mandates to address the risks of these assets.
Recently, both the Chairwoman of the Committee, Representative Maxine Waters, and the ranking member, Representative Patrick McHenry have issued statements on central bank digital currencies – a topic that will most likely be reviewed during the hearing. These statements were issued following the publication of a discussion document on CBDCs issued by the US Federal Reserve.
It was also recently reported that the White House was possibly crafting a proposal for the regulation of crypto.
The list of witnesses participating in the hearing should be posted a few days prior to the hearing.
The hearing will be live-streamed on the Committee’s website.