Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the main Democrat on the Home Monetary Companies Committee, known as for a bipartisan settlement on stablecoins by the shut of 2024.
Throughout a committee listening to on Sept. 24, Waters expressed optimism {that a} legislative deal could possibly be achieved, emphasizing the necessity for sturdy federal rules and client protections as a part of the ultimate framework.
Waters stated:
“Mr. Chairman, earlier than the top of this 12 months, I need us to strike a grand cut price on stablecoins and different long-overdue payments. Since 2022, we’ve been working tirelessly to achieve an settlement and have each made concessions.”
Stablecoin invoice
Waters and Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry, the committee chair, have been collaborating on a invoice to control stablecoins since 2022, with the purpose of making a sturdy regulatory basis for the business.
The committee superior a model of the invoice in 2023, however it has struggled to achieve wider assist resulting from disputes over provisions permitting state regulators to approve stablecoins with out the Federal Reserve’s enter, a measure Waters described as “deeply problematic.”
Waters pressured the significance of stablecoins being backed by safe reserves, corresponding to short-term Treasury payments, to make sure their stability. She additionally emphasised the necessity for the Fed to keep up a key supervisory position, just like frameworks in different nations.
McHenry expressed hope for progress on stablecoin laws whereas additionally calling for broader regulatory readability round digital belongings. He stated he’s “optimistic” about stablecoin regulation and hopes that it’ll result in “much-needed readability on digital belongings.”
With the top of the legislative session approaching, Congress should move vital payments quickly. McHenry additionally famous that his separate crypto market construction invoice, generally known as FIT21, may achieve momentum earlier than the 12 months concludes.
Commissioners testify
The listening to additionally featured testimony from all 5 US Securities and Alternate Fee commissioners, together with Chair Gary Gensler and Commissioner Hester Peirce.
Lawmakers centered their questions on the company’s dealing with of digital belongings and broader rulemaking points, with Republicans criticizing the SEC’s “regulation by enforcement method” and questioning whether or not the regulator was able to offering regulatory readability for the business.
Peirce agreed with the lawmakers’ criticism of the company’s ambiguous method to digital asset regulation and said that the SEC has the instruments to supply clear pointers however has failed to take action.
She stated:
“We’ve [SEC] taken a legally imprecise view to masks the shortage of regulatory readability… We are able to present pointers and select to not.”
Peirce additional emphasised that the SEC’s imprecise stance on token classification creates confusion out there. She argued that the company ought to have clarified that the tokens themselves aren’t securities, which might assist information secondary gross sales and platform listings.
Different commissioners echoed Peirce’s issues, with Mark Uyeda noting that the SEC has a variety of instruments accessible to handle the regulatory gaps, together with defining requirements for token classification and crypto-related exchange-traded merchandise.
