Two former regulators have been making proposals for US crypto infrastructure regulations for years. Unfortunately, their pragmatic suggestions appear to be falling on deaf ears. Today Timothy Massad, the former Democrat Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is again providing testimony, this time in a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
He and former Republican SEC Chair Jay Clayton first proposed a joint self regulatory organization (SRO) tightly controlled by the CFTC and SEC in late 2022 after the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange. One of their most important principles is that one doesn’t have to decide whether each crypto is a commodity. If a platform trades bitcoin and Ether, then it’s a crypto platform and falls under the SRO with the rules applying to all of its tokens. “Legislation that writes detailed rules that create a binary classification scheme is bound to fail,” Massad said.
The 236-page Clarity Act proposed by the House aims to do exactly this, with fears that it could undermine existing securities regulations, which are the foundation of far larger markets.
Article continues …
Want the full story? Pro subscribers get complete articles, exclusive industry analysis, and early access to legislative updates that keep you ahead of the competition. Join the professionals who are choosing deeper insights over surface level news.
