House committee announces crypto CEOs will testify at Dec. 8 hearing on digital assets

Maxine Waters, the chair of the House Committee on Financial Services, has announced several chief executive officers at major crypto firms in the United States will speak at a hearing to discuss digital assets and the future of finance.

According to a Wednesday announcement, Waters said Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks, Paxos CEO Chad Cascarilla, Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon, and Alesia Haas, the CEO of Coinbase Inc. and the chief financial officer of Coinbase Global, will be witnesses at a full House committee hearing held on Dec. 8. The hearing, named “Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: Understanding the Challenges and Benefits of Financial Innovation in the United States,” is the latest from Congress to explore the challenges of adopting crypto assets.

Looking forward to hearing next week with @RepMaxineWaters, ranking member @PatrickMcHenry, and the full committee (@FSCDems) to discuss Crypto and national economic competitiveness for the United States. https://t.co/rVHAvaPMUd— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) December 1, 2021

On the other side of the U.S. Capitol building, Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown called on several crypto firms to release information related to consumer and investor protection on stablecoins. The notices to Coinbase, Gemini, Paxos, TrustToken, Binance.US, Circle, Centre and Tether requesting information by Friday suggest the committee may be planning a hearing on stablecoins in the future.

Related: US Congress plans ‘demystifying crypto’ committee hearing for Nov. 17

Though committees from both the House and the Senate have previously discussed the issues surrounding cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, central bank digital currencies and blockchain, lawmakers seem to be giving the technology more attention as mainstream interest in the space grows. In November, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets penned a report suggesting that stablecoin issuers in the United States should be subject to “appropriate federal oversight” akin to that of banks and that legislation was “urgently needed” to address risks.