Peter Van Valkenburgh testified before the Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
During his oral testimony and through the wide ranging hearing, he made clear that the existing financial services regulatory regime is not well suited for the open blockchain ecosystem, and that this mismatch is putting the United States at a very real risk of driving financial innovation overseas.
To recapture American competitiveness in this area, he called for two policy solutions:
First, a unified federal alternative to the complex and burdensome state-by-state money transmission licensing system. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s proposed special purpose fintech charter would do just that.
Second, a safe harbor for digital currency companies that never take custody of a customer’s funds. If money transmission licenses are meant to protect consumers from potential loss of funds, then it makes no sense to require licenses from firms that have absolutely no capability to lose funds.