Rival American lawmakers have joined forces to bring some order to the volatile cryptocurrency market.
Democrat Darren Soto and Republican Ted Budd, who both sit in the House of Representatives, have put forward two cryptocurrency bills.
The Virtual Currency Consumer Protection Act looks at how the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) manages cryptocurrency price manipulation and urges the recommendation of regulatory changes to stop meddling in the market.
The Virtual Currency Market and Regulatory Competitiveness Act empowers the CFTC to look at laws other countries apply to cryptocurrency markets and to make the US more competitive by streamlining them to make US markets more efficient.
Ground-breaking technology
Soto, who represents Florida, and Budd, who speaks for North Carolina, issued a joint statement calling for better regulation of cryptocurrency and the blockchain in America.
“Virtual currencies and the underlying blockchain technology has a profound potential to be a driver of economic growth,” they said. “That’s why we must ensure that the United States is at the forefront.
“The laws would protect consumers and investors without dampening the environment of innovation that would maximize the potential of these ground-breaking technologies. These bills will provide data on how Congress can best mitigate these risks while propelling development that benefits our economy.”
Meanwhile, Jay Clayton, who chairs the powerful US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has again spoken out about his concerns over the potential for cryptocurrency market manipulation and fraud.
ICO crackdown
“A number of concerns have been raised regarding the digital assets and ICO markets, including that, as they are currently operating, there is substantially less investor protection than in the traditional equities and fixed income markets, with correspondingly greater opportunities for fraud and manipulation,” he said.
Clayton also explained that he supported the principle of initial coin offerings (ICO) to raise capital for new cryptocurrency ventures, if the entrepreneurs involved followed securities rules like other corporations seeking to raise cash.
He also revealed the SEC has set up a Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) to offer advice to entrepreneurs.
“As the FinHub and our other activities demonstrate, our door remains open to those who seek to innovate and raise capital in accordance with the law,” said Clayton.
