The US White House is looking to rein in crypto. It’s hard not to come to that conclusion when looking over the trio of reports it released on Sept. 16, and especially the Fact Sheet the White House put out announcing its goals for the first major responses to the president’s executive order calling for the creation of a legal framework for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.
It encourages regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to “aggressively pursue investigations and enforcement actions against unlawful practices in the digital assets space.”
And it orders the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “redouble their efforts to monitor consumer complaints and to enforce against unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices.”
In both cases, those phrases were emphasized with bold type. The same applies to the Financial Literacy Education Commission (FLEC), which the Treasury Department told to “lead public-awareness efforts to help consumers understand the risks involved with digital assets,” as well as identify common frauds in the industry, and learn how to report it and other types of misconduct.
Then there was the extensive support innovative non-crypto instant payments systems like FedNow — The Clearing House’s RTP Network was also called out in one of the reports on “The Future of Money and Payments,” which also looked into stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose benefits include instant settlement capabilities.
Following that came fostering financial stability — mitigating cyber vulnerabilities and identifying and tracking emerging strategic risks.
Emphasis Matters
Regardless of the specifics, when it comes to regulating cryptocurrencies, the argument in the U.S. has generally come down to encouraging innovation versus protecting consumers.
It’s rarely an either-or situation: With very few exceptions, elected officials and regulators want to do both. It’s just that they disagree on how much leeway cryptocurrency entrepreneurs should have. Emphasis matters.
Looking at the Treasury Department’s trio of cryptocurrency and digital asset reports released on Friday (Sept. 16), its fairly easy to see where the emphasis lies.
One likely reason is that the report does not see cryptocurrencies having truly succeeded in revolutionizing anything in the payment or financial space yet — which is fair, because they haven’t.
Featured News
Redfin Settles $9.2M Commission Inflation Lawsuits
May 7, 2024 by
CPI
DOJ Supports Colorado’s Efforts to Block Kroger-Albertsons Merger
May 7, 2024 by
CPI
Japan Considers Regulation of AI Developers
May 7, 2024 by
CPI
European Commission Extends Decision Deadline for Ita-Lufthansa Merger
May 7, 2024 by
CPI
UK, US and Australia Sanction Senior Leader of LockBit Cybercrime Gang
May 7, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Economics of Criminal Antitrust
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Navigating Economic Expert Work in Criminal Antitrust Litigation
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
The Increased Importance of Economics in Cartel Cases
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
A Law and Economics Analysis of the Antitrust Treatment of Physician Collective Price Agreements
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI
Information Exchange In Criminal Antitrust Cases: How Economic Testimony Can Tip The Scales
Apr 19, 2024 by
CPI