FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Circle CEO Jeremy Aller and leaders of other leading crypto projects delivered their speeches at the Financial Operations Congress.
December saw one of the most significant Congressional Financial Operations Committee meetings for the cryptocurrency sector.
The heads of the largest companies working with blockchain technologies were invited to give their reports, each of which was given five minutes to introduce themselves and their company to the senators as briefly as possible, as well as express their views on the current and future regulation of the sector.
Maxine Waters
Congresswoman Maxine Waters opened the meeting , highlighting the committee’s objectives:
“The purpose of the meeting is a more complete understanding of new technologies, namely their safety for investors, environmental neutrality, the ability to increase financial inclusion, assessing systemic risks for the existing financial system, as well as researching the potential for creating and using the state digital currency.
The heads of the largest crypto companies providing services for the exchange of Crypto assets, as well as services for the use of stable digital assets, the price of which corresponds to the dollar, were invited to the meeting: Stellar, Pax Dollar, Coinbase, Circle, FTX, Bitfury and others.
“Americans are increasingly making financial decisions using cryptocurrency technologies,” Waters said.
McHenry
The opening remarks were then passed on to Congressman McHenry :
“This Congress meeting on cryptocurrencies is the first of its kind due to the completeness of the topics covered. 2021 has become the year of cryptocurrencies.
Specialized terms, which previously could only be heard on the forums of enthusiasts, have become more popular this year than ever. We are talking about DeFi, NFT, DAO and other terms of the crypto space.
The question is, how can we, as the creators of US legislation, make sure that the new technological revolution takes place here, and not anywhere else, where the best conditions will be provided? “
McHenry concluded his introduction with an encouraging statement for the sector:
“If we exclude the desire to regulate new technologies out of fear, such a position will put us in a weaker position and make the country less competitive. It is necessary to make attempts to understand and understand the technology and its potential in the first place. “
After the opening remarks of the representatives of the committee, the heads of the largest blockchain companies had the opportunity to reveal their position.
Jeremy Aller
The head of the Circle Jeremy Aller, known to users for the USDC stablecoin, began his speech by illustrating the scheme of the evolution of the Internet that is popular today:
“We are at a key point in the next transformation of the Internet, its transformation from a network of communications and information dissemination into a network of value transfer.”
Jeremy emphasized the “patriotic” intentions of his company, its interest in maintaining the status of the main world currency by the dollar:
“The USDC is paving the way for the dollar to become the digital currency of the Internet. We believe that the dollar on the Internet will soon be as widespread and accessible as text messages and emails are today. ”
Jeremy ended his speech by refuting a common misconception about stablecoins:
“There is a stereotype that all blockchain analogs of the dollar are in a gray legal field. Through our activities, we strive to refute this misconception, creating USDC, we worked closely with the regulatory authorities from the very beginning and fully comply with all existing laws and standards. “
Sam Bankman-Freed
Head of FTX Exchange Bankman Freed, as a well-known altruist, philanthropist and proponent of the concept of “earn to give” (earn to give to those in need), emphasized the potential of blockchain to transform the world:
“The blockchain industry has a chance to improve the lives of many people. Now many find it difficult to send money to a family in other countries. Think about fees, timing, possible third party freezes. Most of all, it hurts precisely those people who have the least opportunity to participate in the existing financial system. It doesn’t work for everyone. “
The FTX CEO also highlighted his company’s significant contribution to making financial systems more open:
“The FTX exchange is the only one of its kind to openly share all of its market data with users. Unlike classical financial markets, where you have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for this, on FTX any user has access to full market data, while in classical finance only institutional investors have this access. “
Brian Brooks
Brian Brooks head of the Bitfury Group, was able to provide constructive criticism of both the current financial system as a whole and earlier attempts to regulate the sector. Initially mentioning his company’s merits in research on cooling the mining process by 90%.
Brooks further pointed out the contradictions in the work of the US Securities Commission:
“How is it possible to allow banks to issue stablecoins while at the same time creating obstacles in the way of this activity? How can you judge some crypto assets for the fact that their tokens are supposedly securities, but at the same time do not allow crypto assets themselves to become securities for the purpose of trading in already existing and regulated classical markets?
Instead of being puzzled by not fully resolved questions about whether a certain token is a security or not, regulators face much more important problems. Namely: which is better, a decentralized internet, user-centered or Internet controlled by the five largest corporations? Whom do we trust more in matters of capital allocation and lending? A few large banks or open source technology solutions? Why are crypto ETF indices available to investors in Germany, Canada, Brazil, but somehow not available in the US? “
Brooks also noted:
“The blockchain debate is important to anyone who cares about America’s competitiveness and who cares about building ecosystems that are designed to put ordinary users first, while displacing bank owners and other players with massive amounts of power in their hands.”
“We must not harm a new nascent sector,” concluded Brooks.
Denelle Dixon
Denelle Dixon head of Stellar, A former Mozilla employee who worked on the openness and interoperability of Internet services, emphasized that it was these values that led her to the development of blockchain solutions:
“You don’t need permission to use Stellar like other blockchains.”
The head of Stellar spoke about the past merits of the company:
“Our company created a structure for effectively linking blockchain assets to classical financial instruments long before the word stablecoin entered the everyday lexicon.”
Dixon commented on Stellar’s ambitious plans for 2022:
“A pilot project with Moneygram is being prepared, which will provide an opportunity to receive cash in exchange for their stablecoins at any point in the existing infrastructure. The project will be massively launched in 2022. “
Charles Cascarilla
The speech of the head of the Paxos Trust Charles Cascarilla, cooperating with such giants as Paypal and CreditSwiss, highlighted the problems of the existing system of finance, and also highlighted the key advantages of blockchain technologies:
“Today we have to reckon with trillions of dollars ‘hanging in the air’ awaiting crediting. We need to remember about millions of people without the ability to create a bank account and about millions more who, despite having a bank account, are deprived of the opportunity to use the full range of available services. To use crypto services, users only need a phone and an application.
Blockchain is mathematics and programming code that is indifferent to nationality, ethnicity or income level. “
Charles pointed to the dangers of trying to misregulated the sector:
“Trying to cram crypto assets into existing regulations will not be a solution. If the problems of favorable regulation of digital assets are not solved, they will move to other countries, besides the fact that users will suffer, jobs and entire businesses will disappear, there is a danger that the dollar will lose its attractiveness as an international means of payment. “
