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US officials have been more concerned about cryptocurrencies, especially stablecoins, in recent weeks. According to an official of the US House of Representatives, Ted Budd, some legislators are now worried that cryptocurrencies could threaten national security.
Congressman Takes A Swipe At Fellow Lawmakers
Budd made these comments while speaking on the Maker Speaker Series, sponsored by a decentralized autonomous organization and issuer of DAI stablecoin, MakerDAO. He said that the officials fear the future of the blockchain and decentralized finance and how it will evolve. According to him, the lawmakers think cryptocurrencies could lead to a financial equivalent of the September 11 attacks, also referred to as 9/11. Budd said to MakerDAO’s Chris Cameron,
“The fear is whether it will hurt our national sovereignty? Will it destabilize the dollar? Is it a threat to national security? You even have some in the House that sit not too far from me on the House Financial Services Committee that would call blockchain basically a financial 9/11.”
Budd, who serves on the Financial Services Committee, explained that he disagreed with such statements while stressing his desire to embrace blockchain through regulation. He noted that lawmakers need to embrace decentralized innovation and address regulatory concerns with issuers of stablecoins. The US Representative further said that the regulators need to make the country a place where innovation and technology would flourish.
Stablecoins, A Constant Regulatory Concern Among Lawmakers
Cryptocurrencies have garnered a lot of attention and made news headlines in recent months. US officials have expressed concerns while calling for swift regulation to be taken in the sector. Earlier this month, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for greater regulatory oversight of the stablecoin sector during a July 19 meeting of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. According to CNBC, Yellen said there was a need for regulators to come together to mitigate the risks posed by stablecoins. Yellen said this after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell affirmed that stablecoins would need an appropriate framework during a congressional hearing. Other US officials that have positioned themselves as crypto-skeptical include Chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MA). A recent Bloomberg report cited Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael Hsu, revealing that lawmakers are looking into the purported commercial paper reserves of the largest stablecoin by market cap, Tether (USDT). Stablecoins can potentially allow users to circumvent money transmitter rules set by the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and anti-money laundering regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act. This is according to a statement from the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. Going by Ted Budd’s recent conversation on how lawmakers see stablecoins, more crypto scrutiny might be on the horizon in the US.