Today, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence held a “field hearing” (in New York City) on the CLARITY Act – pending legislation that was approved in the House last year but remains in legislative purgatory in the Senate. While the legislation is vital to US interests, and many jurisdictions are moving forward with updated rules to support digital asset innovation, the Hearing was a bit one-sided, as no Democrats made the trip to participate.
Representatives from Nova Labs, Bullish, WisdomTree, and the Coin Center participated in the hearing, outlining the need for regulatory updates.
Subcommittee Chairman Bryan Steil declared:
“Today, here on Wall Street, we gather at the threshold of the next generation of innovation. As the Senate prepares to consider the CLARITY Act, we can complete nearly a decade of work … “Our goal is clear: replace regulation by enforcement with clear rules of the road for digital assets.”
While the legislation has gained some bipartisan support, it is the Democrat side that is holding the bill back. Yesterday, there was a meeting at the White House to strategize how to move the legislation forward before the August recess.
While the Democrats are playing politics with the bill (as both sides do), the potential losers in all of this are the US economy, the financial services sector, and consumers and businesses. For industry participants, the delayed bill cannot be approved soon enough.