Crypto industry representatives call on the U.S. Congress to step in and create regulations for digital asset businesses

Odaily News At a hearing held by a House subcommittee dedicated to digital assets on Tuesday, crypto industry representatives called on Congress to finally step in and set legal standards for digital asset businesses in the United States.
“Under the Trump administration, we will right this wrong by creating a viable path for responsible digital asset companies to do business in the United States,” said Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., who chairs a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.
Republicans on the panel decried the “unpredictable and hostile approach” taken by former President Joe Biden’s administration toward cryptocurrencies, with the executive branch already overturning some past policies of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But the industry is targeting a far-reaching bill like the one passed by the House of Representatives in the last Congress.
“There are a lot of issues to discuss in the coming years, but we need to act now and lay the basic foundation,” said Jonathan Jachym, a lawyer and global head of policy at U.S. exchange Kraken.
One of the witnesses at the hearing was Timothy Massad, who served as chairman of the U.S. CFTC when the commission first classified Bitcoin as a commodity. He cautioned lawmakers not to get too hung up on details when crafting legislation for digital asset market structures, noting that the CFTC and SEC are better at handling the details required for legislation, while agency leaders should focus on solving technical problems.
This was the first hearing of the digital assets panel during the new Congress, but other committees in both chambers have been delving into cryptocurrency-related issues, such as de-banking. Earlier on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell agreed that de-banking is an issue worth exploring, and he also agreed that the Fed would not launch a central bank digital currency during his tenure. (CoinDesk)