A Republican senator has introduced new legislation that would shield crypto exchange platforms from some SEC enforcement proceedings.
According to a recent news release, Tennessee Representative Bill Hagerty is proposing the Digital Certainty Act of 2022 to protect cryptocurrency exchanges from SEC overreach and give legislative clarity about the classification of virtual assets.
Tennessee Representative Bill Hagerty. Image: Mark Humphrey/AP
Haggerty asserts that legislative uncertainty impedes the growth of the crypto sector by making investment and job creation difficult for US-based crypto enterprises.
As stated in a press release by Haggerty, the current lack of regulatory clarity for digital assets presents entrepreneurs and businesses with a choice: navigate the significant regulatory ambiguity in the US, or move overseas to markets with clear digital asset regulations.
Sadly, this uncertainty discourages investment and job creation here in America and jeopardises the country’s leadership in this transformational technology at such a crucial time.
This legislation is essential to providing digital asset intermediaries with much-needed certainty and removing the barriers to entry currently impeding the growth and liquidity of US crypto markets.
It was not specified which SEC enforcement actions would be protected under the law to safeguard cryptocurrency exchanges.
Hagerty also presented the Stablecoin Transparency Act earlier this year, a law that clarifies which crypto assets qualify as stablecoins and how they are supported.
The law would require stablecoins to be backed by US dollars or short-term government securities. In addition, issuers of dollar-pegged crypto assets would have to declare their reserves in audited reports.
