CFTC Chairman: The United States Should Lead Blockchain Innovation

Heath Tarbert, the Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said at a conference yesterday that the country should increase its involvement in digital currencies and blockchain. He also called for action in terms of regulatory clarity.

The U.S. To Lead Blockchain Innovations

The chairman of the CFTC attended a conference on Tuesday and spoke about the involvement of US officials in blockchain and digital assets, in general. According to him, the country should be more receptive to technological innovations and should be in a leading position.

In any case, before any actual implementations, the US needs to lay down a proper infrastructure and create a welcoming environment, especially when it comes to stablecoins.

“We have a situation where stablecoins and other [digital products] could be regulated by 51 jurisdictions plus the federal government. I think that if we’re really going to lead, we should give some careful thought – and this is really a question for Congress, as well as others. You see other countries starting to make inroads in this area, and so as a regulator, I want to at least create an environment where innovation can flourish, and whatever risks there are, we’re able to mitigate those.”

According to Tarbert, digital assets “could have a fundamental transformational change to the global financial system.” He also noted that U.S. agencies are communicating daily to address any regulatory issues.

It’s worth noting that Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, recently spoke in front of Congress and brought up the topic of competition between different countries in the field. He outlined that the U.S. should take steps in this direction and implied that China is moving quickly. Just a few days later, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that his country should increase its involvement in the blockchain sector.

Attempts for U.S. Regulations

During his speech, Tarbert also mentioned previous regulatory actions in the U.S. One of them is the CFTC Reauthorization Act of 2019, which has a section specifically about digital commodities. However, the Chairman referred to it as a “great first step” but a “very modest” one as well.

Warren Davidson, who is a current member of the US House of Representatives, authored another bill called the Token Taxonomy Act. The bill aims to remove digital tokens from the SEC’s jurisdiction under a few specific conditions. The idea is to create a more transparent legal landscape in the country, preventing businesses from looking at other jurisdictions as an alternative.