Coinbase, BitGo Representatives Set to Testify.
The Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion, part of the House Financial Services Committee, will hold a hearing tomorrow (March 9, 2023) on digital assets. The title of the hearing is Coincidence or Coordinated? The Administration’s Attack on the Digital Asset Ecosystem.
The hearing memo explains that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates digital assets deemed to be securities, while the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates virtual currencies used in a derivatives contract.
At the same time, various other regulators are engaged in crypto oversight, including the US Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, FinCEN, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and various state regulators.
The subcommittee believes that comments and rules issued by the Biden administration have harmed digital asset innovation pushing the US behind other jurisdictions.
To quote the hearing memo:
“Committee Republicans have long advocated for increased collaboration across agencies to provide regulatory certainty in the digital asset space and have worked to encourage federal regulators to nurture innovation in a thoughtful and deliberative manner. Over the last several months, events have made clear that Congress must enact legislation in order to bring clarity to the digital asset ecosystem.”
Draft legislation aligned with the hearing includes:
- H.R. ___, the “Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act” (Rep. Emmer)
- H.R. ___, the “Financial Technology Protection Act“
- H.R. ___, the “Keep Innovation in America Act” (Rep. McHenry)
- H.R. ___, the “Keep Your Coins Act” (Rep. Davidson)
The hearing should be well attended with a solid list of witnesses, including:
- Mike Belshe, CEO and co-founder, BitGo
- Tonya Evans, Professor, Penn State Dickinson Law
- Jonathan Gould, Partner, Jones Day
- Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer, Coinbase
- Lee Reiners, Policy Director, Duke Financial Economics Center, Duke University
The hearing will commence at 2 PM ET and will be live-streamed on the Committee’s website.
