The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) should participate in regulating “stablecoins.” The claim was made by the head of the central bank, Jerome Powell, during a speech before the House Committee on Financial Services, The Block reports.
“We view payment stablecoins as money. We think it prudent to secure a sufficiently strong federal role in what is happening around stablecoins in the future,” he said.
Powell argues that it would be a mistake to leave the Fed with “weak” powers in the sector and to allow the creation of a large volume of private money at the state level. He is confident that his agency should participate in approving the issuance of stablecoins in the United States.
During the same hearing, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick McHenry сообщил that plans to vote on legislation regulating cryptocurrencies and stablecoins in July were in the works. Powell was skeptical about this idea and the bill overall.
The first version of the legislation regulating stablecoins was introduced in April. In the original draft, there was broad attention paid to issuer activities and oversight of them.
Later, lawmakers proposed an updated version of the document, which strips the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of jurisdiction over this class of assets.
During congressional hearings, policymakers criticized the bill for outdated data in the drafting process and urged updating information ahead of the next hearing.
In June, presented the third version of the document. Lawmakers proposed the Fed as the regulator for the stablecoins industry. This obliges the regulator to set future requirements for asset issuance.