WASHINGTON—House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has sent a letter to Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) urging Waters and the committee to prioritize working on digital assets and cryptocurrency rules.
McHenry cautioned against granting regulators sole responsibility to develop key policies on digital assets, saying that Congress should not “cede these important issues to regulators such as [the] SEC or CFTC, or to the judicial branch, to determine.”
McHenry called on Waters and the committee to use future hearings on digital assets to examine the cryptocurrency regulatory environment and collaborate on solutions for related issues. McHenry did, however, praise Waters and the committee’s hearing on digital assets and the future of finance, which was held last month, noting that the hearing “reaffirmed the complexity of digital assets, only scratching the surface on the breadth of issues that the Financial Services Committee must examine,” NAFCU noted.
Statement Released
Of note, Waters released a statement last week announcing that the committee would be considering the viability of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). As CUToday.info reported here, the Federal Reserve recently published a paper on central bank digital currency.
The Fed has been seeking the public’s feedback on whether a U.S. CBDC would potentially improve the effectiveness and safety of the domestic payments system. The White House also announced its plans to release a government-wide strategy for digital assets, outlining the opportunities and risks’ for digital assets.