February 6th is A Day to Remember for the Cryptocurrency Industry
The crucial United States Senate Banking Committee meeting of February 6th was broadcasted live around the world. The entire cryptocurrency industry watched as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s Chief Jay Clayton and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s Chief J. Christopher Giancarlo testified before the senators.
The meeting was a must watched as cryptocurrency investors around the world were anxious to see the regulatory position the US intended to take following cryptocurrency position clarifications made by India, South Korea and China.
What Has the SEC and CFTC to do with Virtual Currencies?
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, known as the Senate Banking Committee for short, held a hearing to discuss possible regulations for cryptocurrencies. In that meeting, the heads of the CFTC and the SEC gave their respective opinions on cryptocurrencies.
They two institutions’ heads appeared as witnesses helping to provide their respective institutions’ oversight roles on the cryptocurrency industry.
The hearing themed “Virtual Currencies: The Oversight Role of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission,” was intended to chart a regulatory framework for the larger financial institutions to invest in the cryptos market.
Some people welcomed the regulations as they see these as a control measure to help in decreasing the volatility of cryptocurrency market.
For others, these regulations will block the innovation of the crypto industry and would rather encourage virtual currencies going underground.
Recently, India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not a legal tender and measures will be taken after a report of a group of experts expected within the year.
For South Korea, everything is settled as the country has legalized the trade in cryptocurrencies but only when investors use their real names when opening crypto accounts.
China on the other hand has outlawed all cryptocurrency related transactions both within and outside the country.
So the Senate meeting was widely anticipated as it was expected to bring more clarity on the rules governing the crypto market on US soil. After other world governments gave their stance on the cryptocurrency market, the Senate Banking Committee hearing was the US opportunity to do the same.
A major highlight of the hearing was the CFTC Chief’s backing of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. In his testimony, Giancarlo noted that there can be no distinction between Bitcoin and the blockchain, the technology on which the cryptocurrency depends on.
