A blockchain lobby group backed by firms including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Circle and Fidelity is urging the US Congress to pass a legal framework for digital assets or risk falling behind other countries.
On May 19, the American Chamber of Digital Commerce issued a call to action to Congress and the Senate to prioritize the passage of a nationwide approach to cryptocurrency regulation. The group added that it is asking Congress to form a "sunbathing committee on digital assets and blockchain technology" to develop a "national strategic approach to digital assets and blockchain technology" in the United States.
There was a stark warning that failure to act would allow further activity in the field by "hostile states" that "endangered US leadership and dollar supremacy". It cited China as an example of such counteraction, which has developed an internationally-focused blockchain- based service network (BSN) to "integrate global development and trade to fill the vacuum created by the United States." It also cites a growing number of countries considering or choosing to trade with China directly in yuan and ditching the dollar. These include Saudi Arabia, Russia, France, Brazil and India, it wrote. Likewise, the group mentioned a potential BRICS digital currency and other developments in Russia and Iran on gold-backed digital currencies.
The brief concluded that US regulatory and legal opacity is “thwarting the nation's ability to lead and capitalize on this innovation revolution,” adding:
"This abdication severely hampers domestic development and cedes advantages to other countries at the expense of US innovators and investors." The name of the proposed committee is a reference to the Solarium Project, which President Eisenhower created in response to the threat of Soviet expansion after World War II and early in the Cold War. The Cyberspace Solarium Council was formed in 2019 to develop a strategic approach to defending against cyberattacks. The crypto advocacy group hopes to adopt a similar strategy for digital assets and blockchain technology, "after progress in other countries, there is an urgent need for consensus.”
The Chamber of Digital Commerce is an American advocacy organization founded in 2014 to promote emerging technologies in the blockchain space. On May 19, the group supported Senator Tom Emmer's introduction of the Securities Clarification Act, which aims to provide much-needed ed regulatory clarity to the US cryptoasset and blockchain industries. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission remains adamant that the existing rules that were formed decades ago still apply to this new form of digital finance and its underlying technology.
