Download Production Quality Footage of Sen. Brown’sExchanges HERE
WASHINGTON,D.C. – In Case You Missed It: Yesterday, during a Senate Agriculture Committeehearing titled “Examining Digital Assets: Risks, Regulation, andInnovation,” U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) raised concerns about therisks that volatile digital assets like those offered on Crypto.com pose forconsumers. During the hearing, Brown pressed Kevin Werbach, Professor atthe University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and Sam Bankman-Fried,Founder and CEO of FTX, about how to regulate digital asset to protectconsumers. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking Housing and UrbanAffairs, Brown has led efforts to regulate the realm of digital assets.
 
“Wehear a lot about innovation, but I’m concerned that digital assists create bigrisks for consumers. The Banking and Housing Committee, has been looking atcryptocurrency for years and we’re going to continue to make sure consumers areprotected in these markets,” said Brown at the hearing.
 
Duringthe hearing, Brown asked Mr. Werbach about how best to bring digital assetswithin a Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering framework.
 
“Thereare all sorts of illicit activities that happen using digital assets, and there’sa need to bring this whole ecosystem within the frameworks that we’veestablished for illicit finance and to figure out new technological means to dothat,”said Mr. Werbach. “But ultimately it comes back to the fundamental issuethat regulators need to have oversight. These need to be exchanges and otherentities that are subject to market regulators like the CFTC and the SEC thatcan figure out how to implement those kinds of requirements because there’s noquestion. There is far too much financial crime going on. There is financialcrime outside of crypto course as well, but there’s far too much going on usingthese assets.”
 
Brown then asked Mr. Bankman-Fried about whether companies likeCrypto.com should be getting rich by selling consumers a dangerous and riskyproduct.
 
“Therehave been a number of hacks and scams; historically most of this has happenedon unregulated venues,” said Mr. Bankman-Fried. “There are reallysophisticated tools that the CFTC and other federal agencies have to help mitigatethis risk. The CFTC has a really extensive cyber security and anti-hackingdepartment and program that all of their registrants go through. There has beena very good track record of those companies I think that digital assetexchanges being subject to that level of oversight would be entirelyappropriate, and would help to mitigate the exact risks you are pointing to.”
 
As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking Housing and UrbanAffairs, Brown has led efforts to regulate the realm of digital assets.
 
Later this month, Brown will chair a Banking Housing and Urban AffairsCommittee hearing entitled,“Examining the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Report onStablecoins,” during which he will highlight the risks of stablecoins toconsumers and the economy.
 
Last December, Brown chaired a BankingHousing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing entitled, “Stablecoins: How Do They Work, How Are They Used, and What AreTheir Risks?” during which he questioned cryptocurrencies’ abilityto “democratize money or build a more inclusive economy.
 
Last July, Brown chaired a BankingHousing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing entitled,“Cryptocurrencies: What are they good for?”, during which he criticized digitalassets thathave led to a cottage industry of decentralized financial schemes in the hopesof creating a parallel financial system with norules, no oversight, and no limits.  
 
Downloadproduction quality footage of Brown’s exchange HERE.
 
 

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