With hopes for crypto legislation dimming, Trump’s regulators step into the fray
With hopes for crypto legislation dimming, Trump’s regulators step into the fray
Atkins and Selig are expected to continue pushing the financial markets' transition to 24-hour trading days, a crypto hallmark. Both agencies are examining whether long-standing rules should be updated for crypto-based markets. And Atkins' SEC is expected to soon unveil a highly anticipated effort aimed at allowing for the trading of U.S. stocks through crypto technology, a plan that has drawn concern from traditional financial firms like GOP megadonor Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities.
The SEC has already launched the effort: In August, the agency floated a new regulatory framework for crypto startups and executives looking to raise money through digital assets.
Bank regulators are also working to implement a law that Congress passed last year that created a regulatory structure for stablecoins, a type of digital currency pegged to the dollar.
While crypto groups expressed disappointment Tuesday, they vowed to continue the fight in Congress and work with the agencies to refine potential future regulation.
"We intend to keep our members mobilized. We will keep making this case in the media. And we will work tirelessly to support and share expertise with the SEC and CFTC as they move forward with important regulatory guidance," Summer Mersinger, CEO of crypto trade group the Blockchain Association, said.
Banks and their trade associations who pushed back against the Senate bill also want to work with the agencies to establish rules around trading digital assets.
"The nation's banks continue to support creating a strong, durable regulatory framework for digital assets that will set the course for U.S. global leadership for decades to come," read a joint statement by the major bank trade groups after the vote in the Senate. "We stand ready to work with all stakeholders to achieve this important goal."
Still, there is a slim chance that Congress can get something through this year — and some on Capitol Hill are convinced that doing so is the only reliable way to go about this massive regulatory shift.
"I wouldn't read a lot into [the SEC and CFTC] right now. I'd read into it that you got a strong will on the part of Republicans and probably enough Democrats to get [Clarity] done if they want to sit down and really get it done," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told POLITICO. "There's only so far [the agencies] can go, and it's not addressing a lot of the core issues."
But, in all likelihood, Atkins and Selig will have their work cut out for them. Adopting new rules usually takes their agencies between a year and a half to two years, start to finish. And while both have already started their efforts behind the scenes, the SEC and CFTC will face a tight clock to finish their work before the 2028 presidential election risks muddying up their path forward.
"The Senate has voted and we have a different type of clarity," wrote Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer at crypto firm Coinbase, on social media. "It's time for agencies to step forward and for crypto voters to make their voice heard."
Katherine Hapgood contributed to this report.
This article has been published in politico.com via Yahoo News.
With hopes for crypto legislation dimming, Trump’s regulators step into the fray
Wall Street is asking for rules, and it now may be up to the industry-friendly Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to deliver.
finance.yahoo.com
