Why U.S. Congress stablecoin hearing is ‘like politicians trying to troll’ Bitcoin, crypto

Fundamental analysis looks at real-world events to better understand factors that could affect the prices of diverse crypto assets. Naturally, an event that many investors will be following is the USA’s crypto regulatory scene.

Now, investment analyst Anthony Pompliano has shared his take on the events that transpired during the Congress stablecoin hearing.

Hung, drawn, and “quarters”

For his part, Pompliano compared Senator Pat Toomey’s “bullish case” for stablecoin regulation to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown’s gambling comparison. He said,

“It’s the same exact dollar: you can use analog dollars – physical dollars that are in your wallet or your pocket. You can use electronic CUSIP dollars. These are the dollars that sit inside centralized databases like banks or other types of custodians, or you can use digital dollars. These are the stablecoins and ultimately, people are obviously starting to realize why this technology is superior.”

He added,

“What we can see is that the possible regulation options from Senator Toomey is to operate under a traditional bank charter, [or] you could receive a special purpose banking charter – to be designed in the future – or you can register as a money transmitter.”

Pompliano also pointed out how bank stakeholders like JP Morgan had also entered the “game” with its JPM Coin token.

“Check” your privilege

During the hearing on 14 December, Senator Elizabeth Warren – a longtime skeptic of stablecoins – reiterated her stance on protecting investors and called the DeFi sector “one of the shadiest parts of the crypto world.”

Stablecoins pose risks to consumers & to our economy. They’re propping up one of the shadiest parts of the crypto world, DeFi, where consumers are least protected from getting scammed. Our regulators need to get serious about clamping down before it is too late. pic.twitter.com/hMOT1HIQgn

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 14, 2021

All said and done, however, stakeholders in both the crypto sector and the SEC want Congress to get involved. For that reason, 2022 might bring more discussions about regulatory clarity at the highest levels of the state, along with more visible lobbying.

But for now, Pompliano summed up the hearing and said,

“This is like politicians trying to troll the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry.”

Just ‘do’-llar it

Perhaps the American government isn’t really bullish on stablecoins, but the Myanmar government-in-exile certainly is. To evade the military regime – or junta – the National Unity Government [NUG] announced that Tether [USDT] would replace the country’s native currency. A translation of the announcement stated,

“1. To improve and accelerate the current trading and financial services, the following digital currency, a stablecoin, now has been officially recognized for usage within the nation – Tether (USDT)”