White House Calls on Congress to ‘Step Up Its Efforts’ on Crypto Regulation

Four senior U.S. officials in the White House published a statement on Friday urging Congress to “step up its efforts” with respect to regulating the cryptocurrency market.

The officials – Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan – wrote that Congress “should expand regulators’ powers to prevent misuses of customers’ assets…and to mitigate conflicts of interest.”

Other suggestions for Congress in the statement included strengthening transparency and disclosure requirements for crypto companies, strengthening penalties for violations of illicit-finance rules, and working more closely with international law enforcement partners.

The officials also made suggestions about what Congress should not do in terms of crafting new crypto regulation, including “greenlight[ing] mainstream institutions, like pension funds, to dive headlong into cryptocurrency markets.”
To do so, the officials warned, “would be a grave mistake” that “deepens ties between cryptocurrencies and the broader financial system.”