The cryptocurrency industry faces a very significant and unique situation in the public discourse about privacy, regulation and crypto policy.
The emerging technology will be front and center at a congressional hearing that will involve a bipartisan group of congressmen at the top of their game. These legislators have been waiting for this hearing for a long time and are overjoyed that it’s finally taking place.
The Crypto Commissioners – a panel of distinguished cryptographers and former regulators – will be investigating the entire idea and the consequences of crypto policy to America’s democracy.
Participants include Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker and ranking member Bob Menendez, Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo, House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, Congressional Oversight Counsel Luta Wilson and Editor of CoinDesk Eugene Kiely.
The former U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen will speak at the hearing and will stress that cryptocurrencies can improve public transparency and bring greater ease to law enforcement and regulatory authorities.
“The existing regulatory regime ‘came with a skeleton lock and a graveyard light,’ and industry clearly wants regulation,” Cohen said. “However, it should be layered on top of, not supplant, the existing regulatory framework. I don’t think you can fix [cryptocurrencies] by making a perfect mess of the existing system.”
The series of hearings is designed to address high-level issues with both the cryptocurrency sector and the lack of transparency in the process that has been followed by public policy makers and regulators. Congress is eager to make history in terms of how to responsibly solve these problems.
Currently, there are over 100 cryptocurrencies having tickled the rarefied status of a trillion-dollar market. Most of these are concentrated in a handful of politically well-connected investors who have been allowed to gain control over the trajectory of crypto-market prices over the past year.
A previously unpublished set of interim findings from a report that was commissioned by the House Financial Services Committee will be made public. It is not yet clear what those conclusions are, but it is the type of study that no amount of regulation will prevent.