- Rep. Maxine Waters, who is critical of crypto, wants to organize sessions to educate lawmakers about crypto firms and regulation.
- During a House hearing, Waters asked an SEC official about holding “special sessions” to inform Congress on crypto’s “problems and pitfalls.”
- The hearing showcased lawmakers’ interest in learning about crypto versus regulators’ reluctance to make definitive statements on key issues.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who is known for being critical of cryptocurrencies, said she wants to organize informational sessions to educate groups of lawmakers about crypto firms and how they should be regulated.
Section on Waters’ statements
During a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Tuesday focused on digital assets, Waters said she would “like to try and organize small groups of Congress to be able to ask more questions and get more involved in what is really going on with some of these companies.”
Waters asked Valerie Szczepanik, director of the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub), about holding “special sessions with members of Congress to talk about the problems and the pitfalls that may occur and give some information that would help them not to believe that somehow they should be advancing or even advocating because maybe they just don’t know enough.”
Szczepanik said lawmakers should reach out to the SEC for informational sessions.
Section on lobbying and lack of regulatory clarity
During the hearing, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) grilled Szczepanik over her review of a speech where a former SEC Terraform Labs Fights Back: Cites SEC’s DEBT Box Misconduct in Courtofficial argued some digital assets like Ethereum are not securities.
Emmer took issue with Szczepanik recommending the speech provide “less detail” on tokens morphing from securities to non-securities because it was a “new concept.” Szczepanik confirmed her comment but declined to state whether Ether is a security. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has also avoided declaring whether Ether is a security.
The lack of regulatory clarity has coincided with a new record for crypto’s spending on federal lobbying — $19 million through the first three quarters of 2022.
Conclusion paragraph
The back-and-forth at Tuesday’s hearing highlighted the interest some lawmakers have in learning about crypto assets versus the reticence of regulators like the SEC to make definitive statements on key issues like whether large cryptocurrencies are securities. Informational sessions for legislators could help increase crypto and blockchain literacy in Congress.
