The Biden Administration has just issued an executive order to deepen study into crypto assets in order to regulate them, although legislators within the ruling Democratic Party remain strongly split on the subject. The lack of agreement among Democrats may imply that a progressive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies is still a long way off. It also means that the ultimate legislation will be less severe as a result of the work of crypto-friendly legislators. The names that keep coming up in the digital asset discussion are well known to the crypto community.
On one hand, we have outspoken anti-crypto politicians like Democrat Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown, and on the other hand, we have pro-innovation politicians like Democrat Congress members Ritchie Torres and Jim Himes. The division is significant, and political squabbling in the United States might further stall any regulatory processes.
Senator Warren has introduced legislation to ban cryptocurrency exchanges in order to prevent digital assets from being exploited for sanctions evasion. Warren’s battle on cryptocurrency has continued, with letters to the Treasury pushing for greater restrictions on the business. According to sources, she recently lambasted the financial system, mentioning that adopting an unregulated, unverified system in which fraudsters, cheaters, and terrorists mix with ordinary customers and no one knows who’s on the other side of a transaction is not a safe bet.
Luckily, there are a good number of Democratic senators who support the crypto business and the innovation it will bring to the US financial system. New York Representative Ritchie Torres stated that the notion of dramatically decentralising the internet and finance “strikes me as a truly progressive cause.” He stated that we should never characterise a technology by its most heinous use. Crypto is more than ransomware, just as money is more than money laundering.
New Jersey Democrat Josh Gottheimer has advocated for legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. He introduced the Stablecoin Innovation and Protection Act last month, claiming that the growth of cryptocurrencies offers significant potential benefits for our economy.
On March 16, four Democrats signed a bipartisan letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gottheimer and Torres, of course, signed, as did Florida Rep. Darren Soto and Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss. The letter, authored by Republican congressman Tom Emmer and signed by three other Republicans, addresses the problem of the agency overburdening crypto firms with excessive reporting requirements and greater monitoring of the industry.
