July 18 proved to be an important day for the crypto industry, as two separate U.S. Congress hearings centring the matter were held: one by the House Agriculture Committee[1], and the other one by the House Financial Services Committee[2].
The two stroke completely different tones: while the latter echoed the most conservative sentiments regarding the realm of crypto (with the somewhat obligatory call for a blanket ban), the former seemed more positive, as the board of experts provided the regulators with collected considerations bothering the industry. Nevertheless it’s the House Agriculture Committee hearing we should focus our attention.
Participants
The panel of witnesses was comprised of six industry representatives and academics:
Joshua Fairfield. Law and technology scholar specializing in digital property, electronic contract, big data privacy, and virtual communities. William Donald Bain Family Professor of Law.
Amber Baldet. Co-Founder and CEO of Clovyr startup, which essentially functions as a decentralized app store. Former lead at JPMorgan Chase's Blockchain Center of Excellence (BCOE).
Scott Kupor. Managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a private American venture capital firm.
Daniel Gorfine. Director of LabCFTC, a branch of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) agency aimed at promoting “responsible FinTech innovation[3]”.
Gary Gensler. Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Predecessor of Christopher Giancarlo, current CFTC chairman (aka “crypto dad”). Former co-head of Finance at Goldman Sachs.
Lowell Ness. Managing Partner at Perkins Coie LLP, an international law firm.
Congress’ “vested interest” in crypto: opening statement
The House Agriculture Committee hearing dubbed "Cryptocurrencies: Oversight of New Assets in the Digital Age” was lead by Chairman Michael Conaway,
