The letter written by two members of the house of representatives seems to request the two government agencies to act in collaboration with crypto participants to increase transparency.
Two members of the US House of Representatives have written to the leaders of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, requesting that they cooperate with crypto participants to increase transparency and regulatory clarity.
Representative Glenn Thompson announced on Monday that he and Representative Patrick McHenry had addressed a letter to the CFTC and SEC encouraging the agencies to “create a cooperative working group on digital assets.”
Thompson and McHenry asked SEC chairman Gary Gensler and acting CFTC head Rostin Behnam to “encourage an active conversation” between federal authorities and crypto market participants.
The letter stated, “A working group on digital assets would enable both the SEC and the CFTC to investigate how to efficiently employ their current authority jointly.”
“Such a working group can facilitate open communication among digital asset ecosystem innovators. This effort could provide us with further knowledge and clarity as we make these crucial policy decisions when Congress considers additional legislation to address regulatory gaps.”
The delegates went on to say:
“Lawmakers and regulators must work together to properly balance protecting innovation with any new regulations to ensure the digital asset marketplace flourishes in the United States.”
The letter appears to be exerting political pressure on the two government agencies to form a joint working group on their own rather than waiting for legislation to take effect.
The House passed a bill introduced by McHenry in April that clarified the regulatory function of agencies such as the SEC and the CFTC on cryptocurrency.
The Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act, H.R. 1602, gives Congress 90 days to form the aforementioned working group, which will include representatives from the SEC, CFTC, and the cryptocurrency industry.
The bill, however, has been forwarded to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
According to Thompson and McHenry, “nothing stops the SEC and the CFTC from engaging in similar actions under existing law.”
The lack of regulatory certainty in the United States, according to several crypto and blockchain specialists, has the potential to hurt the industry.
Currently, the SEC, CFTC, and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network are in charge of digital asset regulation in the United States, but each has its own jurisdictional claims, resulting in a patchwork approach that businesses must navigate in order to function legally.
The SEC frequently uses the Howey Test to assess whether tokens are securities, with Chairperson Gary Gensler saying that the crypto economy, including decentralized exchanges, fits under the federal agency’s regulatory scope.
Commissioner Dawn Stump of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission told Cointelegraph that the government organization “does not regulate crypto assets even if they are commodities.”
