California Rep. Brad Sherman, who has repeatedly called for US residents to be banned from buying cryptocurrency, accused the leaders of various financial agencies of echoing the ideas of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, on the regulation of digital assets.
In a November 16 hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Sherman addressed comments to Federal Reserve Vice President for Supervision Michael Barr, Acting Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Martin Gruenberg, National Credit Union Administration President Todd Harper, and Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu. The US lawmaker suggested that the four regulators had done little to address “crypto billionaires” who use digital assets to evade penalties and taxes and simply “want the appearance of regulation” rather than clearly defined rules.
“Crypto billionaires are determined to get a light regulator”Sherman said. “I am distraught by what I have heard from you gentlemen: railings, safe and sound ways of dealing with crypto….you sound like Sam Bankman-Fried, only wearing long pants instead of shorts. What a vagueness.”
According to Barr, the FTX collapse had “some impact” on the banking sector, calling for Congress to step in and provide regulatory clarity. Sherman noted that the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is proposing “hard and real rules” for banks to handle crypto assets. Barr, Gruenberg, Harper and Hsu said they would support legislation of comparable strength in the United States.
The California representative addressed the same committee during a December 2021 hearing on America’s financial innovation in which Bankman-Fried was testifying. Sherman warned that the CEOs of cryptocurrency firms “with their lobbyists, their PACs and their power” were threatening the ability of regulators to protect consumers.
Members of the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing in December aimed at exploring the collapse of FTX and the “broader consequences for the digital asset ecosystem.”
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