Cryptocurrency News 6th Feb:
On February 6, the Senate Banking Committee will be held and broadcasted live online
SEC’s chief Jay Clayton and CFTC’s chief J. Christopher Giancarlo will testify in the hearing
After India, South Korea, and China, it’s US’s time to be clear about cryptos
Agenda: “Virtual Currencies: The Oversight Role of SEC and CFTC”
On coming Tuesday i.e February 6, 2018, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs are going to have a meeting to discuss the regulations over cryptocurrencies. The heads of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will testify on the cryptocurrencies during this hearing.
Earlier this month, it has been reported that the CFTC chief J. Christopher Giancarlo and the SEC chief Jay Clayton will appear as witnesses. They are basically going to talk about the oversight roles by both of these Commissions on cryptocurrencies.
The hearing is entitled “Virtual Currencies: The Oversight Role of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.” This step came at a time when both the agencies are having heightened activity around cryptocurrencies.
There has been a number of lawsuits filed by SEC against allegedly fraudulent ICOs. CFTC is also scrutinizing the activities of Bitfinex and Tether among other cryptocurrency exchanges.
The US Senate Committee will be meeting both SEC and CFTC to discuss the regulations. This will give a regulatory opening to the larger financial institutions to invest in the cryptos. Or it will simply curb them. Whatever may be the effect but these regulations are surely going to come.
Feb 6th: More Regulations or Green Light for Cryptocurrency Investors in USA?
Some believe these regulations to be positive as control could help in decreasing the volatility while others think these regulations will block the innovation of crypto industry and would rather support creating own virtual currencies.
Recently India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley cleared the air around the crypto. Jaitley announced that bitcoin among other cryptocurrencies are not a legal tender and measures will be taken only after the report of experts group on the same.
South Korea has already made its stance clear on it by legalizing the trade in cryptocurrencies but only form real name accounts. Whereas in an attempt to kill the crypto market completely, China is blocking all the websites, domestic as well as the foreign platforms to cryptocurrency trading and ICOs.
In the US, the rules regarding cryptocurrencies are quite vague and this meeting is expected to bring out some clarity. Moreover, the governments around the world have made their stance on crypto clear. Now, it’s time that US provide clarity for investors.
The effect of this meeting on the market depends on the clarity it brings. It could either turn out to be very bearish or bullish. Without any clear set of guidelines, institutional investors couldn’t do anything. Hence, a clarity can also give a green signal to the bigger investors to get involved.
Edited: CFTC has rescheduled the date for this event from Feb 6th to Feb 14th, 2018.
What do you think the February 6th hearing will bring forward? Would it be in favour of crypto market or will tighten the noose further? Let us know your thoughts in our comment section below!