The Joint Economic Committee, which includes Republican and Democratic members of both the US House of Representatives and the Senate, will hold hearings on the government’s role in cryptocurrency.
Members of Congress will hear speeches from industry experts during a hearing entitled “Demystifying Cryptocurrency: Digital Assets and the Role of Government” on November 17, according to the Joint Economic Committees next week. Representative Don Baer, who previously proposed legislation that would expand the legal framework for digital assets in the United States, will chair the session.
Presentations are being planned by industry experts, including Alexis Goldstein, Director of Financial Policy at the Open Markets Institute; Tim Massad, former head of the CFTC; Kevin Werbach, Director of the Blockchain and Digital Assets Project at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; and Peter Van Valkenburg, director of research at the Cowen Center. Lawmakers, including Senator Rob Portman and Senator Ted Cruz, who previously spoke in favor of cryptocurrency, are members of the JEC.
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Much of the discussion about regulating cryptocurrency in the United States has taken place outside all sessions of the House of Representatives or the Senate, and has instead often been confined to meetings of the House Financial Services Committee or the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. However, the issue became central to Congress in August when discussions about the drafting of the existing infrastructure law included tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrency developers, transaction auditors and contract operators.
The bill has since been passed by both the House and Senate without further clarification on crypto brokers and awaits President Joe Biden’s approval. The US president is expected to sign the bill on Monday.
