US Senator Jon Tester says there is no useful purpose for crypto as the FTX collapse energizes talks to adopt federal crypto regulations.
In a new interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, the Democratic politician from Montana says he fails to understand why crypto should even exist.
“[Crypto has] not been able to pass the smell test for me. I have not been able to find anybody who’s been able to explain to me what’s there other than synthetics and what means nothing.
And the problem is that if we regulate it – and I pointed this out to some of the regulators here a week or two ago – if we regulated it, it may give it the ability of people to think it’s real. My personal thought and I’m not a regulator and I’m not a financial person that does regulation, but I see no reason why this stuff should exist.”
Tester is one of 24 US senators who serve on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, which could play a role in regulating cryptocurrencies. The committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Wednesday, December 14th, on the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.
According to Roll Call, Tester wants the banking committee to deal with the crypto issue, not the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, which has been discussing the proposed Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA).
The bill, also known as the Stabenow-Boozman bill, would have the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) largely oversee the crypto markets and was supported by Bankman-Fried.
Per the report, senators are souring on the bill.
Says Tester,
“It needs to be done in this committee, not [agriculture], so CFTC is a ‘no.’”
Weatherly
