Existing regulations should be enforced upon crypto companies instead of inventing new ones, U.S. House Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said during a contentious House committee session this week. Waters set the tone during a mark-up hearing in the House Financial Services Committee over Senate Bill 1260, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, Yahoo Finance reported.
"We don't need to invent new regulatory structures simply because crypto companies refuse to follow the rules of the road," Waters said, according to Yahoo Finance.
The legislation would create new regulations for digital assets in the wake of Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation into the failure of crypto exchange FTX, Yahoo Finance reported. That failure notwithstanding, Waters, the ranking Democrat on the committee, called the bill a crypto industry "wish list" for an industry that already doesn't obey existing laws.
Waters also claimed the bill offers insufficient protections for investors and consumers while doing little of what it was intended to do, clarify the regulatory environment, the report noted.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., also voiced opposition, citing the bill's weaker consumer protections and poor disclosure provisions needed to fend off conflicts of interest. Pressley alluded to FTX's collapse an called on fellow committee members to "oppose this inadequate bill," Yahoo Finance said.
Republican committee members responded by criticizing Democrats for their assertions that the bill's consumer protections are insufficient. The committee chair and ardent backer of the legislation, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., said S.B. 1260 may not be ideal, but it is "better at worst case" than the existing regulatory system, according to Yahoo Finance.
"I urge you — whether or not you like digital assets or think its the bane of existence — we need to pass this bill and consumers and Americans will be better off for the future, whether you like them or you don't," McHenry said to Yahoo Finance.
The Yahoo Finance report also referred to comments by policy analyst Jack Solowey from the Cato Institute published in Decrypt the same day as the hearing. Solowey told Decrypt S.B. 1260 opponents to feel the legislation contains no meaningful protections are "profoundly mistaken" and that the bill fills holes in the current system.
"Opposing the bill's framework on consumer protection grounds is particularly shortsighted," Soloway told Decrypt, according to Yahoo Finance.
