Lawmakers Meet with Top Crypto Executives in Promising Hearing

GB Market Commentary 09/12/2021

by Marcus Sotiriou

Bitcoin has failed to hold the $50,000 level today as it sits at around $49,000 this morning after the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee hearing took place yesterday. Top executives from six major cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase and Circle, urged Congress to provide more clarity to the crypto industry. Prestigious crypto players called for careful and bespoke rules that will not force business overseas by being too restrictive. Chief Executive of Coinbase said "Without tailored legislative solutions that are openly debated with public participation, the United States risks unnecessarily onerous and chilling laws and regulations." I think it is promising that lawmakers are meeting with executives to discuss how to go about regulating the industry, and I am hopeful that regulatory clarity will come in the next few years to help the industry expand without harming innovation.

Goldman Sachs CEO, David Solomon, said he believes that the underlying blockchain technology is more important than Bitcoin itself. Solomon stated that he is a big believer in the disruption that these technologies are causing. He said, “the key thing is how can blockchain or other technologies that are not developed yet accelerate the pace of the digitization of the way financial services are delivered.” This is why Goldman Sachs have implemented a services app to try to incorporate crypto. I agree with Solomon and think his approval of how this technology will revolutionise financial services is great social proofing.