sherrod brown Archives

The Senate Banking Committee hearing titled, “The Financial Stability Oversight Council Annual Report to Congress,” took place with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen taking questions from members on behalf of FSOC, which she leads.

See the recorded video.

Secretary Yellen’s prepared opening testimony included remarks on digital assets asking for Congress to act on creating a regulatory framework, which largely reflected her digital assets testimony at the House Financial Services FSOC hearing earlier in the week.

“… the Council is focused on digital assets and related risks such as from runs on crypto-asset platforms and stablecoins, potential vulnerabilities from crypto-asset price volatility, and the proliferation of platforms acting outside of or out of compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Applicable rules and regulations should be enforced, and Congress should pass legislation to provide for the regulation of stablecoins and of the spot market for crypto-assets that are not securities. We look forward to continuing to engage with Congress on this.”

Chair Sherrod Brown (D, OH) guided the day’s agenda on behalf of the Majority Democrats. Ranking Member Tim Scott (R, SC), a possible candidate for Vice President on former President Donald Trump’s 2024 ticket, led the Minority Republicans. Continue reading “Senate Banking FSOC Hearing Sees Some Crypto Discussion”

The Senate Banking Committee convened another Congressional hearing today about the FTX implosion titled, “Crypto Crash: Why the FTX Bubble Burst and the Harm to Consumers”.

See the video of the hearing.

Yesterday’s House Financial Services Committee hearing on FTX was hard to top with the current CEO of FTX delivering an indictment of the past CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), his company’s past performance and even the Bahamian government.

Chair and Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D, OH) opening statement did not hesitate to address his extreme skepticism of crypto with nothing redeeming to say about the digital currency industry and blockchain technology. He added, “Crypto doesn’t get a free pass because it’s shiny and bright.”

National security, Facebook’s Libra, terrorist financing and more were examples of crypto’s effects that had metastasized for Sen. Brown into a global blight.

Conversely, Ranking Member Sen. Toomey (R, PA) sought to differentiate between the alleged fraud of FTX and the software, code and innovation activating cryptocurrency today.

Sen. Toomey chided those who wanted to stop crypto saying that it cannot be and, in fact, represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the technology. He suggested that those who call for not addressing crypto with legislation at all are misguided. He promoted his own Stablecoin Transparency Act as an important step in providing guardrails for crypto’s growth, let alone the use of blockchain technology.

Continue reading “Senate’s FTX Hearing Highlights Fraud Vs Crypto Skeptic Debate”