Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who heads the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s subcommittee on financial and client coverage, mentioned the federal authorities “has been slow to curb cryptocurrency scams and fraud” as losses to customers stay on observe to prime $1 billion this yr.
“Without clear definitions and guidance, agencies will continue their infighting and will be unable effectively to implement consumer and investor protections related to cryptocurrencies and the exchanges on which they are traded,” Krishnamoorthi wrote in letters despatched Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Rostin Behnam. Spokespeople for all 4 declined to remark.
Top crypto buying and selling exchanges, in the meantime, have demonstrated an “apparent lack of action” to guard their clients, he wrote in one other missive to the chief executives of Binance.US, Coinbase, FTX, Kraken and KuCoin. He pointed to platforms itemizing digital tokens with “little or no vetting,” insufficient safety measures to protect deposits, and inadequate monitoring to forestall illicit exercise.
“Consumers are often unaware of the current patchwork of resources available to inform their investing decisions, and insurance companies are wary to provide insurance to individual consumers given the lack of regulation of digital assets,” Krishnamoorthi wrote.
He is asking for detailed information from each the regulators and the trade leaders by Sept. 12 on what they are doing to forestall abuse.
It is unclear whether or not Krishnamoorthi’s push will result in hearings or an effort to develop a invoice, although he mentioned in his letter to regulators that Congress “may need to pass legislation” to convey stability to the crypto market.