French Hill – a republican representative of Arkansas – is passionate about crypto, and he’s taking a leading role in ensuring the U.S. invokes appropriate crypto regulation in the coming future.
French Hill and Digital Currency
Hill is currently leading a discussion amongst House republicans on the uncertainty of crypto in the U.S. He also serves as the House Financial Services Committee’s vice chair and leads its Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion. In a recent interview, Hill said:
Legislation from Congress is needed to protect U.S. consumers and investors, as well as to preserve America’s role as a global leader in finance, technology, and innovation. The discussion draft from the House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees represents a common approach to digital asset regulation that would bring existing consumer and investor protections to digital asset-related activities and intermediaries under the principle of ‘same risk, same regulation.’
The lack of regulation in the U.S. regarding crypto is leading to danger for several reasons, a big one being that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) feels it can now police the arena with a persecuting hand (and a bad attitude, to boot). The agency has done everything it can to bring crypto companies down, and it’s not just going after small names. Big firms, like Kraken and Coinbase, are now falling victim to Gary Gensler’s antics.
Carol Rose Goforth – professor of law at the University of Arkansas – has spent a long time studying crypto and the technology behind it. She said:
Sometimes, figuring out how to comply with these preexisting rules is really hard. If all we do is force crypto assets into regulatory structures that were drafted with different kinds of interests in mind, it often does not work well… You have the companies that are spending thousands of man hours trying to figure out how to comply, [who are] competing with companies that may be much less interested in devoting their resources to that. It’s like the good companies are actually at a tremendous disadvantage because it’s so much cheaper just to not comply and hope you don’t get caught.
Like many lawmakers in this country, Hill believes the collapse of FTX last November is the main reason to bring about crypto regulation in the country. He stated:
What we are doing in the House is writing the first bills that will give a regulatory framework for digital assets that protects investors, protects consumers, but very importantly, creates an innovation space here in the U.S. for the expansion of the use of digital assets.
Writing the Right Rules
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania said:
For months, our committees have worked collaboratively to establish a viable regulatory framework for digital assets necessary to protect consumers and promote American innovation.