FSOC, stand down please
House Financial Services (HFS) Chair Patrick McHenry (R, NC) wasted no time after his HFS committee hosted U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday.
Yesterday, he sent Secretary Yellen a letter that began, “I am writing to express my strong concerns with actions taken by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) this past April seeking to make it easier to subject nonbank financial companies to prudential supervision by the Federal Reserve. The actions are contrary to the due process protections afforded by the Constitution and mark a sea change in the longstanding principles the Council uses to review these entities.” See the letter.
McHenry wants Secretary Yellen to “revisit [FSOC’s] April decision to evaluate risks posed by non-bank financial entities based on size, rather than the activities they undertake.” Read the release.
And, read the U.S. Treasury press release for “Financial Stability Oversight Council Meeting on April 21, 2023.”
more tips:
Meanwhile, Politico reports that McHenry wants to put the market structure bill up for a vote after July 4 in spite of Democratic push back. Read a bit more.
mid-america fintech
Rep. Mike Flood (R, NE) is inviting “innovators, financial services leaders and policymakers” to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the first ever “Flyover Fintech” event on August 2.
Rep. Flood, a freshman congressman, is steeped in the crypto legislation landscape with his previous role as a Nebraska state senator and as a current member of the HFS Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion subcommittee. Moreover, Flood is now known for this grilling of Prometheum at the HFS digital assets hearing on Tuesday.
The event promises to “examine the evolving regulatory environment for digital assets, the promise of blockchain, and the relationship between next-generation internet and fintech, critical regulatory questions, and the future of digital assets in a global economy.” Read the press release.
The House Financial Services Committee is well-represented. In addition to Flood, Rep French Hill (R, AR), Chair of the Digital Assets subcommittee and Rep. Warren Davidson (R, OH), Chair of the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, have committed to speak according to the website.
The event is during a Congressional recess – so, you have no excuses: register here.
Blockchain Caucus
Congressman Flood lists membership with the “Blockchain Caucus” in the 118th Congress on his congressional website – interesting to see this. There has been no formal announcement about the Congressional Blockchain Caucus in the 118th Congress likely due to its bipartisan goals and reluctant Democrats. Nevertheless, is a Caucus website update imminent?
security to commodity
Sounding like the current chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), former SEC Chair Jay Clayton (R) reiterated his position on crypto tokens as securities at Corda’s R3 conference on Wednesday saying that the “vast majority” of crypto tokens sold for cash are a security. BUT… that could change over time, he explained, as the token becomes a commodity.
According to TechCrunch, “Clayton pointed to Broadway show tickets as an example: If someone bought 1,000 tickets for $10 and told their friends and family they would be able to resell those tickets for $100 or $1,000, then it’s a security, he said. ‘But if you just buy the ticket 10 years later, it’s just a ticket.'” Read more.
use case – tokenization
Here it is again.. that real-world-asset-tokenization theme. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo isn’t having believing any of the crypto industry pushback on registering with the SEC. He tells The Block, “We have this set of licenses, and the underlying technology, to be able to take the tokenization process from end to end.” The company doubled its revenue last year and hopes to do it again this year. Read more.
still more tips
18 Italian banks trial wholesale CBDC in sandbox – Ledger Insights
Meet ‘Heina’ Chen, The Secretive Executive Holding The Purse Strings At Binance – Forbes
MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor says Bitcoin could grow to 80% of crypto market after SEC suits against Binance and Coinbase – Fortune
Opinion: Gary Gensler’s Catch-22 Vision of ‘Regulated’ Crypto Brokers – CoinDesk
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