Disagreement among Lords: A busy week for digital currency
On Monday, UK Parliament launched a cross-party group of MPs and Lords to cover the crypto and digital assets sector. The group is to act as a forum for parliamentarians, policymakers and the UK crypto sector to discuss policy and regulation in the industry. The news followed last week’s announcement that the New York State Department of Financial Services appointed former Promontory executive Peter Marton as deputy superintendent of virtual currency. Marton commented that “Crypto supervision should be a marathon and not a sprint, and I look forward to continue this effort in earnest.” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also stoked excitement on Tuesday, stating that a highly anticipated report on cryptocurrencies and CBDCs will be released “within weeks” (though originally scheduled for a September 2021 release). Powell made the statement during a Senate Committee hearing, where Senator Pat Toomey also questioned whether the Fed has authority to act as a retail bank for Americans, asking: “It seems to me that there is absolutely nothing in the history, the experience, the expertise, the capabilities of the Fed that lends the Fed to being a retail bank. Is that a fair observation?” Powell responded: “I would say, yes.” Having previously stated that a CBDC would render privately issued stablecoins to become obsolete, he also told Toomey during the hearing that it is possible the two could co-exist.
Powell’s comments were followed by news on Thursday that Congressman Tom Emmer has introduced a bill to prevent the Fed from issuing a CBDC directly to individuals. In a statement, Emmer commented that “Requiring users to open up an account at the Fed to access a US CBDC would put the Fed on an insidious path akin to China’s digital
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