U.S. Senate split on cryptocurrency regulation

PANews reported on July 10 that according to Bloomberg, a key subcommittee of the U.S. Senate debated the proposed regulation of digital assets. Republicans advocated moderate regulation, while Democrats warned of potential loopholes and conflicts of interest. On Wednesday, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing to strive to complete the legislation on the structure of the cryptocurrency market before the September 30 subcommittee deadline. The House of Representatives will also review the relevant bill next week.

Chairman Tim Scott said that legislation should clearly define security tokens and safeguard measures against illegal finance. Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock criticized the proposal for failing to resolve conflicts of interest in the executive branch. At the hearing, former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Timothy Massad reminded that the current legislation gives decentralized cryptocurrency companies too much exemption, which will lead to the outflow of regulatory activities. Democrats are also worried that cryptocurrency companies will evade registration by using "decentralization". Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis, Thom Tillis and others released market structure principles last month, which are roughly consistent with the CLARITY Act. Bill Hagerty said he is not worried about losing bipartisan support and predicts that Democrats who support stablecoin legislation will move forward pragmatically.