US Senator John Hickenlooper has implied he is keen to see more done in order to regulate cryptocurrencies in the US.
The senator wants the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) act decisively and introduce a transparent notice-and-comment regulatory framework that will make it simpler to understand and monitor the industry.
In a letter to SEC chair Gary Gensler, Hickenlooper said that the time for urgent regulation has long come.
“I write to urge the SEC to issue regulations for digital asset securities through a transparent notice-and-comment regulatory process”, he wrote.
Hickenlooper also noted the lack of a coordinated regulatory framework and said that this led to uneven enforcement. It also diminishes investors’ opportunity to invest in meaningful ventures that they would otherwise support openly.
Worse, it confuses investors as they are not sure how to respond to markets and what they may perceive as a good financial opportunity but could also be loath to engage with due to poor regulatory guidance, he said.
“Given the complexity of these issues, and recognizing that some digital assets are securities, others may be commodities, and others may subject to a completely different regulatory regime, a formal regulatory process is needed now”, he added.
He is hardly the first lawmakers to urge the SEC to act. Other lawmakers have called for the passage of bills that would make it easier to protect consumers from various cybersecurity threats that can be traced back to the cryptocurrency sector instead.
Just like those previous plans, Hickenlooper hopes that he has been able to pinpoint some specific areas that SEC can regulate effectively.
For one, the senator suggested that the regulator should agree on a basic definition for digital assets as securities.
The SEC has been litigating with a number of company over an unclear status. The senator’s calls are encouraging, but not necessarily the whole story.
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