Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, has suggested that Congress enact legislation should the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fail to provide adequate guidance on cryptocurrencies.
In a Friday statement from the Senate Banking Committee, Toomey said called he was dissatisfied with the responses SEC chairman Gary Gensler had given on the differences between stocks and commodities in terms of token projects and stablecoins. The Senator questioned some of the SEC’s apparent differences in enforcement actions between crypto firms and advisory firms, including Glass Lewis on similar allegations of providing “fraudulent and misleading information.”
“In order for investors to benefit from a fair and competitive marketplace, federal agencies should answer questions about whether – and if so, how – new and emerging technologies fit under existing regulations,” Toomey said. “Chairman Gensler’s failure to establish clear traffic rules for cryptocurrencies underscores the need for Congress to act.”
Toomey previously spoke out in favor of the US government Introduction of a digital central bank currency and said he would vote for President Joe Bidens Election for the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. Additionally, in August the Senator stood behind a bipartisan effort to get around change some of the provisions The recently passed Infrastructure Act does not apply to developers, miners and others in the crypto space. Other U.S. lawmakers, like Toomey, proposed solutions to tax reporting obligations after Biden signed the bill called Congress would have to “do this in subsequent laws”.
Related: The legislature is pushing for crypto provisions in the Infrastructure Act
Although Congress has not yet responded to crypto, as Toomey suggested, both the House and Senate have been busy passing a bill that will extend U.S. government funding through February 18 to avoid a shutdown . President Biden signed today the “Federal Funding Act for further expansion” comes into force.
