Crypto CEOs Head to Capitol Hill to Confuse the Hell Out Congress

Another day , another probability for Congress to maybefinally figure out what a bitcoin is : cryptocurrency CEOs are heading to the House totestify on digital assetson Dec. 8 , consort toan announcementby Representative Maxine water .

The House Committee on Financial Services will hear testimony from a bevy of cryptocurrency CEOs , including Circle ’s Jeremy Allaire , FTX ’s Sam Bankman - Fried , Bitfury ’s Brian Brooks , Paxos ’s Chad Casacarilla , Stellar Development Foundation ’s Denelle Dixon , and Coinbase ’s Alesia Haas . The hearing will be titled “ Digital Assets and the Future of Finance : understand the Challenges and Benefits of Financial Innovation in the United States , ” though anyone concerned will have to tune up in to see what actually ends up being discussed .

Congress has taken a deepening interest in cryptocurrency , though perhaps a moment too recently , as the multi - trillion - dollar marketplace may betheoretically capableofcrashing the economy(or at the very least , replicate the dot - com bubble burst of the late nineties ) . Earlier this year , Waters introduced the Digital Assets Working Group , which is comprised of popular members from various committees and specify topropose legislationto regulate the cryptocurrency market .

A motorcade carrying President Joe Biden to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 1, 2021; used here as stock photo.

A motorcade carrying President Joe Biden to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 1, 2021; used here as stock photo.Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP (Getty Images)

Congress has already hold several hearings featuring prominent figures in the industry , and Senate Banking Committee chair Senator Sherrod Brown latterly asked a phone number of crypto business firm to reach over information related to a course of study of tokencalled stablecoins — a type of cryptocurrency whose value is peg to assets like the U.S. dollar that are far more stable than the wildly speculative cryptocurrency market .

One concern thathas been raisedabout stablecoins is that in the event of an economic crisis , the entity that see to it them wo n’t have enough reserve to maintain a 1:1 exchange pace , potentially dragging down the time value of the plus to which they ’re peg ( like the dollar ) . The Treasury Departmentrecommendedthat stablecoins be open to “ appropriate Union supervising ” in early November .

Senior form from primal banks across the world includingthe Federal Reservehaveexpressed concernabout the possible impact of cryptocurrency , and the Fed has mulled the hypothesis of launching itsown U.S. digital up-to-dateness . The Securities and Exchange Commission is assertinggreater authorityto regulate part of the cryptocurrency grocery store , while in October the Department of Justice form a task force called the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team toinvestigate scams , crooked exchanges , and money laundering .

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