Senate Hearing on Cryptos: Good News or Bad?

Yesterday, February 6 2018, the Senate banking committee had a hearing involving Christopher Giancarlo, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The discussion:  Cryptos.  

This hearing, amidst continuous FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) related to regulations in the US, China, South Korea, and India, was a scary proposition for investors.    Could this mean more regulation?  And worse, could this mean regulations that would negatively impact the investor?  Anyone's guess.  

I'm happy to say that this hearing was a very intelligent conversation, with legitimate concerns and opinions being voiced.  

In his opening remarks, Giancarlo spoke of his kids proclaiming that "we owe it to this new generation to respect their enthusiasm about virtual currencies with a thoughtful and balanced response.  Not a dismissive one.  And, yet, we must crack down hard on those who try to abuse their enthusiasm with fraud and manipulation.  And, we must thoroughly educate ourselves and the public about this new innovation.  And, we must make good policy choices and put in place sound regulatory frameworks to reduce risks to consumers".  I couldn't be happier with the approach.  If regulation is going to be put into place, it must be only to protect investors, not to throttle/bottleneck our ability to invest.  

In Clayton's opening argument, he stressed the fact that blockchain/distributed ledger technology has great potential and closer to the end of the hearing said that he "hope(s) people pursue it vigorously".    But, he stressed that ICO's are securities and are treated as such.

While the senators had a lot of questions for these two, very few involved the words "banning crypto".  The conversation was mostly comprised of legitimate concern for the safety of investors, the two agencies abilities to regulate efficiently, and understanding the bigger picture. 

In conclusion, this is great news to, but it's not the end.  This hearing was just that, a hearing to discuss concerns.  What regulations the future holds is uncertain, but i'm more than ecstatic to know that the people in charge see the legitimacy of the technology and are committed to making investing safer, rather than bottle-necking it.  This certainly must be a sigh of relief to all those investors out there.

Thanks for tuning in to the +Vibe Merchant!  

If you'd like to watch the hearing for yourself, and I strongly recommend that you do, the link is available here:

https://www.banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=D8EC44B1-F141-4778-A042-584E0F3B9D39