Of all the issues facing the upcoming 119th U.S. Congress, cryptocurrencies are likely to generate the quickest action and the biggest headlines.
And it starts with the agenda set by President-elect Donald Trump, two longtime Capitol Hill veterans said Monday.
“It looks like Congress is about to make a big move on cryptocurrencies,” said Peter Roskam, a former six-term congressman and lobbyist at law firm BakerHostetler. “This issue is ripe for me. There is some understanding among the public that we have to deal with this, that technology is just chaining together things from the past. ”
Roskam was joined in a webinar analyzing the impact of the election results on financial services by Kevin R. Edgar, former House of Representatives general counsel and government policy partner at Baker Hostetler.
Cryptocurrencies have soared since President Trump won the election. While attending the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, he proposed creating a Bitcoin Federal Reserve System and vowed to make the United States the world's “Bitcoin superpower.”
The world's leading cryptocurrencies rose nearly 5% on Monday after President Trump reaffirmed his plans to create a U.S. “Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.” This surge took Bitcoin to a new record of over $106,000.
“The president-elect seems to be very proactive about this, and based on that, he's going to put his thumb on the scale and be intentional about it,” Roskam said.
cryptographic conversion
Trump once called cryptocurrencies a “fraud,” but embraced the digital asset during his campaign. In his speech at the Bitcoin conference, Trump vowed to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.”
The Republican National Committee created a pro-cryptocurrency clause and added it to the party's platform, and the Trump campaign announced it would accept donations in cryptocurrencies.
President Trump has named former PayPal executive David Sachs as the White House czar of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies. He also nominated pro-cryptocurrency attorney Paul Atkins from Washington state to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The president-elect has been very clear that he wants the United States to be a desirable place for cryptocurrencies from an innovation standpoint,” Edgar said.
Edgar added that Trump is not the only one to have been caught by the cryptocurrency bug. He said at least three new senators, Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) are all campaigning. It is reported that he received support from virtual currency.
Meanwhile, President Trump is backing World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project that recently received a $30 million investment from cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.
swift legislation
The first 100 days of a new president's term are typically reserved for high priorities. A virtual currency bill could be a high priority for President Trump, which may reflect the influence of Elon Musk, who is said to have donated more than $250 million to his campaign. is high. Musk is a supporter of Dogecoin, a less popular cryptocurrency that has risen more than 18% since the election.
The new bill could be similar to the bill passed by the House of Representatives in May to create a new legal framework for digital currencies. The bill was passed despite warnings from the SEC that it could create new financial risks.
The Republican-sponsored Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act passed on a bipartisan vote of 279-136. Supporters of the bill in Congress say it would clarify regulations and help spur industry growth.
Cryptocurrency companies need to know what the rules are and whether they are dealing with the SEC or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Edgar explained.
“Depending on the product you're offering, under what circumstances might you not be subject to either regulation?” he said. Supporters of the virtual currency bill want to “bring this market entirely to the United States, without considering other jurisdictions that may have more sophisticated regulations and legal systems.”
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