The Week in Crypto Policy

This week, the House focused on digital dollars, and the Senate appeared uninterested, at best, in passing pro-innovation crypto legislation anytime soon.

Top Points

• House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) — along with over 50 cosponsors — reintroduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, a bill to prohibit the Fed from issuing a CBDC directly or indirectly to individuals or from using a CBDC to implement monetary policy.
• Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-NY) reintroduced the ECASH Act, a bill directing Treasury to develop a digital dollar with cash-like properties.
• The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets held a hearing on digital dollars where policymakers debated the pros and cons of having a digital dollar run by the federal government versus private issuers.
• The Senate Banking Committee held an SEC Oversight hearing with Chair Gensler, but Members focused less on crypto and more on rules relating to climate disclosures, private funds, and artificial intelligence.
• Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sent a letter to the heads of Treasury, the SEC, and the CFTC, urging them to address the lack of disclosures in the crypto space, and saying proposals in Congress “applying limited disclosure requirements” would be a “profound mistake.”