Crypto executives tell Washington that the sector is here to stay

Today, six executives from different crypto companies went to Washington to testify before the House Committee on Financial Services. These include Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks, Paxos CEO Chad Cascarilla, Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon, and Alesia Haas, the CFO of COINBASE Global Inc.

Reportedly, the testimonies of all six officials comprised similar base notes. For instance, they claimed the crypto industry is booming and is here to stay in some form.  Allaire said stablecoins and internet-native capital markets are not too big to fail. However, he believes the industries are too big to ignore at their current levels.

The executives also argued that the crypto sector is well past a wild, wild west stage, seeing as most players are already extensively regulated.

Bankman-Fried delved on this point, saying,

There are irresponsible actors in the digital asset industry, and those actors attract the headlines, but FTX is not one of them.

Coinbase’s Haas went straight to the point, saying the current regulatory regimes often fail to accommodate the crypto and blockchain industries.

Appealing to the US’ competitive nature

The executives also mentioned that the US should remain competitive. They highlighted the US’ economic interests and the risks of failing to keep up with innovation. Per the executives, a sluggish and strict approach to embracing crypto has forced tech talent to migrate to other jurisdictions with clear regulations.

Speaking on this matter, Bitfury’s CEO said a surprising number of talented founders have left for Portugal, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and other regulated jurisdictions that have a bullish outlook on crypto-related innovation and growth.

The executives also pointed out that the crypto sector is much more than Bitcoin (BTC/USD). According to them, BTC is part of web3, the next generation of the internet. They emphasized that web3 comprises multiple applications that run on the blockchain.

While the executives drive compelling points, they will also need to address risks associated with the crypto markets to get a shot at appeasing legislators. With two high-profile hacks in the crypto space in the past week, getting lawmakers to see the benefits of the crypto space might prove a difficult task.

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