Congressman McHenry announced a joint hearing to discuss market structure around digital assets

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick McHenry, has announced a series of joint hearings in May that will focus on the structure of the digital asset market in the United States.

Congressmen McHenry Glenn Thompson, Chair of the Home Farm Committee, French Hill, Chair of the Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion Subcommittee, and Dusty Johnson, Chair of the Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development Subcommittee, announced the move on April 27.

“Our committee embarked on an unprecedented collaborative effort to develop and enforce a clear rule of road for the digital asset ecosystem.” “We must strike the right balance between protecting consumers and restraining responsible innovation,” the joint statement said.

McHenry added more context to the upcoming hearings while speaking on a panel with crypto-friendly Sen. Cynthia Lummis at the 2023 Consensus event on April 28: “We will have joint hearings when we return in May.” This will be the first time we have a holistic view of the house committee hearings on regulation, our market structure around digital assets, and the overall picture.”

“What we plan to do over the next two months is to report on bills that relate to the part of raising capital for digital assets, to how a product can transition from a securities regime to a commodities regime, while also maintaining our business. rights around products that are not neatly arranged (inserted) into the securities regime or the commodity regime,” he added.

McHenry also stated that the aim of the hearings is to pass legislation that provides regulatory clarity for the crypto sector, which complements the work currently being done on a bipartisan bill led by Lummis and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

The Responsible Financial Innovation Act, also known as the Lummis-Gillibrand Bill, was introduced in the United States Senate in June 2022 and addresses, among other things, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), regulatory stablecoins , and crypto taxation.

Passing of the bill has been delayed, most likely due to its complexity for Senators who are not crypto savvy. Lummis and Gillibrand have revised the bill, and the next draft is expected to be released soon.

“This is work that Senator Lumms and Senator Gillibrand are doing on the part of the Senate, but it will be our effort in the (Congress) Council,” he said. Lummis commented on the revised bill, implying that this iteration would likely put more emphasis on “national security interests” such as cybersecurity.

“Some people I spoke to who are still skeptical of digital assets worry that our bill doesn’t adequately address cybercrime.” As a result, I believe our bill will include a stronger cyber crime component. “I’m sure you’ll see some provisions that require certain registration (…) so that companies are properly regulated and vetted,” he predicts.