Tag: french hill

Posted on

Rep. French Hill Talks Digital Assets Legislative Momentum

Rep. French Hill

What a week for lawmakers on House Financial Services (HFS) including Rep. French Hill (R, AR), who is Vice Chair of HFS and Chair of its Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion.

One of the HFS Committee’s two signature bills, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century [H.R.4763] – or “FIT 21” – passed with a resounding bipartisan majority on the House Floor, 279-136.

At nearly the same moment as FIT 21’s passage, there was more good news after a bipartisan Congressional letter co-signed by Rep. Hill and others on Wednesday urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve applications for spot Ether Exchange-Traded Product (ETP) applications.

Late Thursday, the SEC did just that by approving the first leg of the ETH ETP process.

And then there’s stablecoins [H.R.4766] and the SAB 121 [H.J.R.109] resolution – both with more favorable momentum than ever before.

The digital assets policy “tide” has clearly shifted in Washington D.C. Yet, Rep. Hill, who has represented central Arkansas’ 2nd congressional district since 2015, remains vigilant and attuned to future legislative opportunity including plans for a series of upcoming Digital Assets Subcommittee hearings on tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) in addition to HFS closing the deal on stablecoin legislation.

On Friday, blockchain tipsheet spoke with Rep. Hill across a range of digital asset topics including:

    • SEC and Ether Exchange-Traded Products
    • Digital assets and The Hill
    • Bipartisanship
    • Tipping point versus turning point
    • Legislative momentum
    • The education process
    • Managing jurisdictions
    • Next for the Digital Assets Subcommittee

(This transcript has been edited for clarity.)

blockhain tipsheet: Congressman, you co-signed a letter on Wednesday, that urged the SEC to approve an ETP. Yesterday – a day later – the SEC responded with approval on the first leg of that process. Is this what you wanted?

Rep. French Hill:  I was pleased to see the Commission follow through and approve “Step 1” of the idea that they’re going to extend their exchange-traded product category to Ether.

In my view, the long process they took in the Bitcoin ETP approval – and the Federal court’s intervention on that topic – caused this to flow more smoothly and they met their deadline. So, I was pleased to see it. Continue reading “Rep. French Hill Talks Digital Assets Legislative Momentum”

Posted on

Digital Assets Hearing Highlights House Democratic Support for Digital Assets Legislation

Today’s inaugural hearing of the Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion Subcommittee titled, “Coincidence or Coordinated? The Administration’s Attack on the Digital Asset Ecosystem,” took place under the auspices of the House Financial Services Committee and Subcommittee Chair Rep. French Hill (R, AR).

See the 2+-hour video of the hearing.

In spite of the title and with a couple of exceptions (such as Rep. Brad Sherman (D, CA)), rather than a partisan food fight, the hearing was largely about creating a regulatory framework and what was needed.

With Republican support for digital assets legislation well-known, the hearing reaffirmed that some Democratic voices are pro-crypto, too, with members such as Wiley Nickel (D, NC), Bill Foster (D, IL) and the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member Stephen Lynch (D, MA) who each talked hopefully about the space but were eyes-wide-open about its challenges.

In his opening statement, Hill pointed out that the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member Stephen Lynch (D, MA) had partnered on a financial technology task force previously. Read his complete opening remarks.

Payment stablecoin legislation started by HFS Chair Rep. Patrick McHenry and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D, CA) appears to be at the top of the list for regulation, Chair Hill wants to see move forward in the 118th Congress.

Ranking Member Lynch expressed optimism about the digital asset space in his opening statement, but acknowledged the challenges and irresponsible actions within the ecosystem including a lack of transparency. He wanted the “consumer’s voice” considered more in the overall digital assets discussion. Continue reading “Digital Assets Hearing Highlights House Democratic Support for Digital Assets Legislation”

Posted on

Rep. French Hill Discusses Digital Assets Subcommittee Agenda

Rep. French Hill

This morning, Rep. French Hill, who is Chair of the new Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion under the House Financial Services Committee, appeared on CNBC in an interview with anchor Joe Kernen.

Highlights include his interest in nurturing bipartisan support for blockchain legislation as well as coming privacy and stablecoin bills. And he also suggested that his new subcommittee will be working with the Agriculture committees in the House and Senate on upcoming bills but did not specify which. See the interview here.

Transcript below:

JOE KERNEN: [On crypto] – people go into both corners depending on which side of the aisle they’re on. Congressman, what what does that come from? Why do you need convincing of one side or the other if you want to do this? The Democrats aren’t going to want to do it. I know I can see it coming.

REP. FRENCH HILL: Joe, good morning. It’s good to be with you.

I think there’s an opportunity for bipartisan work here on creating a regulatory framework around digital assets. I think for two reasons. One, you’re right. There are some Democrats that think anything associated with blockchain, or cryptocurrency is just money laundering in a way to have bad behavior.

On the other hand, there’s some Republicans that think the future is decentralized finance and that digital assets are critical.

I think we bring them together because blockchain is an important innovation area. We want that technology to be done here in the United States. We want a regulatory framework that is transparent for developers, investors, and potential consumers as people try to prove a use case.

And finally, we want to make sure that people have a full transparency of that. And so I think that will bring Democrats and Republicans together for both law enforcement reasons, if that’s what their top issue is, or for innovation and financial technology reasons.

JOE KERNEN: Congressman, do you think we need to follow the money? Do we need to see who who gets disintermediated [and] whether they have big offices on K Street and don’t want this to happen? I won’t mention any names, but obviously there’s a lot of industries that that probably are loath to think of a future with decentralized finance.

Continue reading “Rep. French Hill Discusses Digital Assets Subcommittee Agenda”

Posted on

Blockchain’s New DC Powerbroker: The Digital Assets Subcommittee

Digital Assets Subcommittee

With Rep. Patrick McHenry (R, NC) finally in his House Financial Services Committee Chair last week, the congressman whipped up a selection of subcommittees that will carry his party’s financial services agenda in the 118th Congress.

Among them, a committee devoted to digital assets: The Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion led by Rep. French Hill (R, AR), a former banker.

Still to be populated with House Financial Services members from both sides of the aisle, there will be no other committee like it in Congress: digital assets and fintech-focused, all the time.

Bipartisan support for crypto legislation has been a key element of driving digital assets discussion in DC to-date (RFIA, DCCPA, DCEA and stablecoins) even if bills have yet to cross the finish line into law. With a wide spectrum of political viewpoints unifying over a common cause AND attempting to navigate a divided government, this committee would seem to be at the tip of the bipartisan crypto spear.

Topping the agenda for the new subcommittee will be working with (if not helping dictate along with Chair McHenry’s guidance) what the SEC, CFTC, the Fed and any other applicable regulator should do about digital assets and thereby define their jurisdictions.

This will be a years-long, legislative journey as technology and products evolve. But it has to start – or continue – somewhere.

The agenda

Continue reading “Blockchain’s New DC Powerbroker: The Digital Assets Subcommittee”