Crypto Self-Regulatory Organization Plan Floated in US House Hearing
US lawmakers drifted the idea of regulating cryptocurrency through a self-regulatory organization putting both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in charge.
Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., asked former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad what measures would be necessary given talks that regulatory jurisdiction should be given to the CFTC.
“I would rather see a system where we forced the two agencies to work together, to work through an SRO, and that way the industry could basically have to pay for it,” Massad told Lynch.
Many SROs are already in place including the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Those are overseen by federal agencies, such as the SEC, and also Congress.
Massad also said it can not be expected for either agency to tackle the crypto market in a “way that we need given the lack of investor protection.”
Michael Blaugrund, chief operating officer at the New York Stock Exchange also weighed in.
“I would agree that finding a path forward in some respects renders moot the question of whether a token belongs on one side of a perimeter or the other seems like a sensible path,” Blaugrund said.
Categorizing which cryptocurrencies are securities or commodities has been a longstanding point of contention.
That distinction results in which agency — the SEC or CFTC — has jurisdiction.
House Agriculture Chair GT Thompson, R-Pa., also asked about the prospects of an SRO.
Matthew Kulkin, partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, who was testifying, was a bit more hesitant on the idea.
“I worry that creating a new SRO from scratch would take time,” Kulkin said. “I think about this in terms of incremental process and I don’t know
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