WASHINGTON, DC – The Securities and Exchange Commission can consider a short-term crypto monitoring framework that will allow businesses to continue innovating.
“We need to consider whether there are more efficient regulatory methods to meet the federal regulatory framework,” Uyeda said in a recorded statement made at the agency’s latest Crypto industry roundtable. “The committee is working to develop long-term solutions to address these issues, but the time-limited, conditional exemption relief framework for subscribers and non-registered users could enable greater innovation in blockchain technology within the US in the short term.”
Securities regulators are waiting for Congress to provide a crypto market structure law that will allow Congress to begin writing the rules the digital assets sector is seeking. That may happen later this year, according to lawmakers working on that effort, but months will pass before arrival, and even longer for the SEC and other relevant federal agencies to write regulations and get into action.
This second in a series of crypto roundtables, the agency hosted when it overhauled its digital asset stance, Uyeda still ran the agency, but the next chairman, Paul Atkins, is poised to take over. However, once he arrives, the companions of Uyeda and Crypto advocates Hester Peirce are still on board.
The Republican commissioner noted that encryption platforms are interested in handling both traditionally regulated activities and businesses outside the scope of government agencies, all under the same roof.
“Do we need to ensure that regulatory gaps are met as companies increasingly try to combine securities and unfair trading activities, what can be done in the short term and what Congress should consider in the long term?” asked Peirce, who leads the SEC Crypto Task Force.
Caroline Crenshaw, the SEC’s sole Democratic chief, argued that some of the recent market turmoil and corporate failures have forced industry observers to “painfully recognize the discrepancy between investor expectations and reality.”
“The crypto trading platform is unique because, among other reasons, multiple services are often performed under one roof, including bridge liquidation and custody,” Crenshaw said. In traditional finance, these types of functions are “usually performed by individual registered entities” because they “have a high risk of conflicts of interest and high risk for investors.”
Read more: sec ‘earnest’ about finding viable cryptographic policies, committee members say in Roundtable