After remaining quiet on the issue of Bitcoin and crypto assets since taking office, the Trump administration finally appears to be taking the industry seriously and is considering how to approach it from the regulatory point of view. Earlier this month, the president himself Tweeted about his distaste for digital currency and his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, claimed that the technology is a threat to US national security
The most recent words from Mnuchin on the issue is that US regulators are currently eyeing the space and that more regulations are in the pipeline.Mnunchin: Crypto Regulations to Follow a “Unified Approach” From Regulators
According to a report in citing an interview from CNBC, Steven Mnuchin claims that the United States is preparing to create specific regulations to police the emerging crypto asset industry. The Treasury Secretary stated:“We’re looking at all of the crypto assets… We’re going to make sure we have a unified approach and my guess is that there are going to be more regulations that come out from all these agencies.”
The agencies to which Mnuchin alludes include both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Both have already attempted to apply existing financial regulation to the space. However, from Mnuchin’s revelation today, there sounds like there is more on the way.
Also during the interview, Mnuchin reiterated the concerns he raised earlier this month. He stated that authorities were concerned that Bitcoin and other crypto assets were being used primarily for illicit purposes and that financial regulators were keen to stamp this out one way or another.Earlier today, NewsBTC reported on the US Treasury Secretary’s adamant refusal to believe that Bitcoin will be relevant in ten years time. In fact, Mnuchin said that he would not even be talking about it later in his own term in his position and he certainly wouldn’t be investing in it ever.
"I can assure you I will personally not be loaded up on bitcoin" in 10 years, says Treasury Secretary Mnuchin — Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC)
The political heat focused on Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto asset industry of late seems to have been prompted by social media giant Facebook’s recent detailing of its own foray into the space. The firm formally announced Libra, a digital currency due for launch in 2020, last month. Since then, many financial regulators around the world have expressed concerns about Facebook’s financial ambitions. A Senate Banking Committee grilled the firm over the project last week.
Along with bringing Facebook itself into the regulatory firing line, the social media firm’s plans seem to have brought a lot of attention to Bitcoin and other crypto assets too, particularly from the Trump administration, which largely seems hostile to the potentially revolutionary technological breakthrough.Related Reading: Bullish For Bitcoin? Trump Turns Up Pressure on Federal Reserve to Cut Interest Rates
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