US Senate slates hearing on stablecoins for February 15

Just days after the House of Representatives examines stablecoin regulation, the Senate will take its own look at the issue.

The Senate Banking Committee has slated a February 15 hearing entitled “Examining the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Report on Stablecoins,” according to the body’s February hearing schedule. This is one week after the House Financial Services Committee holds its own hearing, “Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets’ Report on Stablecoins.”

The witness list for the House hearing includes the CEOs of a number of prominent crypto firms, including Jeremy Allaire of Circle, Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, Alesia Jeanne Haas of Coinbase and Brian Brooks of Bitfury, who also once served as Acting Comptroller of the Currency. The witness list for the Senate’s hearing is not yet available. 

Both hearings promise an examination of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets’ Report on Stablecoins, which came out at the start of last November. In that report, the group urged Congress to limit stablecoin issuance to insured depository institutions. Meanwhile, the Financial Stability Oversight Council designated stablecoins a systemic risk, meaning FSOC could leverage emergency regulatory powers if Congress fails to act. 

Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) wrote to House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters last week, advocating Congress create more clarity surrounding cryptocurrency to keep regulators from broadening their mandates.