The U.S. Senator Calls for Coordination With Treasury on Crypto

Sen. Sherrod Brown sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging her to help work on cryptocurrency legislation after the FTX fallout. In the letter to the Treasury Chief, Mr. Brown, told Ms. Yellen to incorporate recommendations from the Financial Stability Oversight Committee.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown urged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on November 30, 2022 to work with lawmakers and financial regulators to help write legislation to rule in the cryptocurrency market in the wake of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

The letter included legislation that would “create authorities for regulators to have visibility into, and otherwise supervise, the activities of the affiliates and subsidiaries of crypto asset entities,” with financial regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve Board.

Mr. Brown sent the letter the day before Congress held its first hearing on FTX’s fallout. The Senate Agriculture Committee has called Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam to testify November 24, 2022, on the firm’s unexpected failure. He aims to hold his own hearing on FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, in December, as a spokesperson previously stated on CNBC.

Mr. Brown wrote to Ms. Yellen “As we continue to learn more details, the failure of this crypto exchange brings to mind the litany of financial firm failures due to the combination of reckless risk taking and misconduct.”

“It is crucial that risks in this area are contained and do not spillover into traditional financial markets and institutions, and we draw the correct lessons regarding customer and investor protection,” he further noted.

Mr. Brown wrote “Congress and the financial regulators must work to get all of this right. As more crypto failures occur, the age-old adage is more true than ever — if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Ms. Yellen said she is Skeptical of ‘Digital Assets’

Recently, Ms. Yellen said crypto needs strict regulation after the FTX collapse, at the New York Times DealBook Summit in New York City. She said “I think everything we’ve lived through over the last couple of weeks, but earlier as well, says this is an industry that really needs to have adequate regulation and it doesn’t.”

She added, “It’s a ‘Lehman moment’ within crypto. Crypto is big enough that you’ve had substantial harm to investors, and particularly people who aren’t well informed about the risk that they’ve undertaken.”

Nancy J. Allen
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Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/12/01/the-u-s-senator-calls-for-coordination-with-treasury-on-crypto/