U.S. regulators and lawmakers may be revisiting legislation for cryptocurrencies following a wild week of trading that has seen Bitcoin prices fell by $15,000 at one point. According to the Bloomberg report, U.S financial regulators are still unsure of how to regulate the volatile markets. The crypto market continues to prove to be very volatile as most cryptocurrencies witnessed a massive crash this week following bitcoin’s lead.
“We are in the process at the Fed of studying the various ways to address this issue.”
As banking regulators testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve’s Vice Chairman of Supervision, Randal Quarles, spoke of a lack of sufficient regulations, stating, “We are in the process at the Fed of studying the various ways to address this issue.” He added that federal agencies need time to consider the right regulatory approach before they can then create a framework for oversight. U.S regulators are still mainly concerned with the illicit activities associated with decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as market manipulation, money laundering, and ransomware attacks.
Regulators discuss setting up an inter-agency task force on crypto tokens.
The acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said he and other regulators have discussed setting up an inter-agency task force on cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown separately voiced concerns over the volatility of cryptocurrencies. In a letter to the Comptroller of the Currency, he wrote, “It tells me that fintech companies and others operating outside the regulatory system can pose a danger. I don’t know the solution yet with these, but it’s cause for concern.” He also expressed concern about the OCC’s authority to grant charters to financial and non-financial companies.
