It finally seemed to be here: cryptocurrencies would be well regulated, at least in the United States. Then the crypto market may be taken more seriously by the general public and that can provide a new flow of money. Legislation regarding stablecoins is currently being worked on worldwide. But in the US, these laws are now coming a lot later than expected.
More protection for crypto investors
That reports news agency Reuters on July 26. The US House of Representatives has postponed its decision on a new bill. This is mainly due to doubts from the Ministry of Finance, which wants stricter regulations for crypto to protect consumers.
According to one of Reuters’ sources, the wallets where consumers can store their stablecoins should be better regulated. Consumers (read: retail investors) can then be better protected. It is not clear whether it concerns wallets on exchanges or also (hardware) wallets that you can create yourself. The latter will be more difficult to regulate.
Banks would also object. According to them, the bill is ‘quite technical’, which can probably also be maden has with the above mentioned aspect of hardware wallets.
As a result, the House Financial Services Committee will probably not be able to start working on the proposal until September. The whole month of August is dominated by a parliamentary break.
Bank-like regulation for crypto?
Last Friday, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) wrote to the House Financial Services Committee that the proposal may not protect enough consumers. The ICBA mentioned that stablecoin issuers should meet capital (read: collateral), liquidity and regulatory requirements.
Part of this is that non-banks should be allowed to issue stablecoins while the Federal Reserve keeps an eye on things. But the organization also warned in the letter that the central bank may not have the resources to properly regulate such companies.
Last month we wrote that Bitcoin bank Custodia has sued the Federal Reserve for taking too long to get a master account with the central bank. This account could enable Custodia to issue a good quality stablecoin. If the bill is approved, it will undoubtedly be positive news for these types of companies.
