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The CEOs of major banks in the US were invited to the Capitol Hill for a Congressional hearing a couple of days ago, as reported by CNBC.
Among the topics being brought by the House of Financial Services Committee were blockchain and cryptocurrency.
“Currently blockchain is transforming our financial system on cybersecurity and how entrepreneurs and startups are able to raise capital. As the rest of the world speeds ahead to take advantage of this new technology, the US is now lagging behind heavily due to regulatory certainty issues that the market needs to protect consumers, empower innovators and entrepreneurs,” the congressman opened the session about technology in the financial system.
The first question was addressed to the Goldman Sach’s Chairman & CEO, David Solomon on why he decided to cancel their plan to open a cryptocurrency trading desk.
As previously reported by Chepicap about the fake news, Solomon clarified in front of the committee that the previous news about the trading desk was incorrect.
Read more: Goldman Sachs CFO clears the air over recent crypto news
“We never had plans to open cryptocurrency trading desk. We might at some point in time, but there’s no question when you’re dealing with cryptocurrency. It’s a new area, there are a lot of issues. It is unclear from a regulatory perspective and it’s not clear whether or not in the long run as a currency, you know, those technologies are going to work and be viable,” said Solomon.
The congressman then moved on to JP Morgan & Chase’s CEO, “Mr. Dimon, in 2017, you called cryptocurrencies “not a real thing”, but this year your firm unveiled JPM Coin and stated, “We are supportive of cryptocurrencies as long as they’re properly controlled and regulated”, why the shift?”
“The blockchain is real, it’s a technology, a lot people are using and test it today and we think it will work overtime,” Dimon addressed the question.
He went on elaborating how JPM Coin is different with the “other cryptocurrencies”, “The cryptocurrency is not supported by anything, there’s no value behind it other than what the next person pays for it and they have serious issues about that. The JP Morgan Coin is a token, which is supported by a deposit at JP Morgan, so it can be shipped around the world in real-time, it can go with a lot of data on it.”
Dimon also mentioned how the JPM Coin will facilitate a better payment system as it’s not only cheaper, but also “faster and it comes with data”, while at the same time “it’s secure and permissioned” with “not everyone can access it”.
You can watch the full coverage below.
Read more: JPM Coin "could one day be consumer", says Jamie Dimon
As the Q&A session proceeded, the congressman also mentioned about a new bill he just introduced the previous day that would provide regulatory certainty that the US needs to "take advantage of this thriving sector".
Stick with Chepicap for more updates from the crypto space.