US Senate to examine regulatory frameworks for crypto on July 30

The United States Senate will conduct a full committee hearing with a focus on “Examining Regulatory Frameworks for Digital Currencies and Blockchain” on July 30.

The hearing will be conducted in an open session, which means that it will be streamed live via a webcast so the public can listen in.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire will be a witness at the hearing alongside a number of influential figures in the blockchain space.

The desire to regulate digital assets has been reiterated over the past month in light of regulatory uncertainty surrounding Facebook’s Libra coin.

The social media giant planned on launching Libra in 2020, although last week’s Senate hearing may prompt Facebook to “rethink” amid concerns from lawmakers and regulators.

“I was observing two hearings this week, and I would say with all certainty that David Marcus had not anticipated this level of hostile sentiment towards Libra,” economist Janice Winterburn said in a Coin Rivet article for the Daily Express.

“In all fairness, Mr Marcus carried himself very well in the face of obvious disdain from many people within the government who are clearly against the march of cryptocurrency in general – not just Libra.”

Several of the concerns over Libra’s viability in the financial ecosystem can also be attributed to Bitcoin, with the only difference being that Bitcoin is permissionless and decentralised.

While unlikely, the US Senate could propose a ban of Bitcoin trading much in the same way as it did with online poker 10 years ago.

This move saw an exodus of several poker players from the US, with the likes of Daniel Negreanu moving back to Canada to continue his profession.

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