Professor Angela Walch of St. Mary’s University School of Law has called for more scrutiny on the activities of crypto miners in the State.
A proposal for stronger rules on cryptocurrency miners was also made during Tuesday’s crypto hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Professor Angela Walch, speaking before the committee, stated that miners wielded “significant power” over the way blockchain networks operate.
According to Walch, miners can take advantage of their transaction-ordering position, which could become a “big concern” for cryptocurrencies, according to Law360.
Professor Walch emphasized the idea by comparing the miner extractable value paradigm — in which miners receive greater profits by scheduling transactions in a specific way — to a “bribe.”
Given their role as “intermediaries” in the multibillion-dollar crypto ecosystem, Walch advocated for “more scrutiny” of miners’ operations.
In response to Walch’s characterisation of crypto miners as intermediaries, Coin Center executive director Jerry Brito compared their function to that of internet service providers.
Brito claimed that miners should be regulated similarly to Internet service providers (ISPs), without the need for costly regulations such as money transmission legislation.
Crypto miners are not considered “financial intermediaries” in New York, according to Brito, therefore the state’s strict Bitlicense does not apply to them.
Walch wasn’t the only one who looked at crypto miners with suspicion. Senator Elizabeth Warren referred to software developers and miners as “shadowy” and “faceless.”
Because the United States has been recognized as a possible destination for miners fleeing China as a result of the latter’s crypto mining crackdown, the crypto mining industry in the United States may face more scrutiny.
The majority of the regulatory discussion around U.S. miners has focused on environmental concerns, with several North American mining companies pledging to operate in an environmentally beneficial manner.