The time for Clarity is here: Congress has a chance to pass the most important technology law since the Telecoms Act
Fortune – Tech
fortune.com
Summary
Spending more than two decades in Congress, I saw firsthand how legislative momentum can propel our country forward — and how legislative inertia can leave us scrambling to catch up. The crypto market structure legislation currently moving through Congress, the Clarity Act, is unlike anything we’ve seen since the Telecommunications Act of 1996: a large-scale, forward-looking effort to embrace technological change and introduce consumer safeguards for a nascent technology. And that only happens when Congress recognizes the high stakes. For too long, American financial policy has been in a reactive crouch. Crypto market structure legislation can break this pattern. Some argue that nearly centuries-old securities laws already cover what crypto needs, or even claim that the industry would prefer to have no regulation at all. The internet and the thousands of startups that made America the world’s tech leader flourished not despite regulation, but because smart regulation created the infrastructure and protections users and investors required. This legislation is governance at its best: Congress identifying an emerging sector with enormous potential, and responding with the regulatory clarity needed for that sector to flourish within appropriate guardrails. What gives me confidence that we are closer than ever to a breakthrough is the remarkably broad support this has garnered in Congress. The GENIUS Act, which regulates stablecoins, passed both chambers of Congress with strong bipartisan backing.
From the source
Spending more than two decades in Congress, I saw firsthand how legislative momentum can propel our country forward — and how legislative inertia can leave us scrambling to catch up. Today, Congress stands at a crossroads: the United States can remain the world’s technological and financial capital or give it all away, potentially to adversaries who are mounting an active challenge to U.S dominance. The crypto market structure legislation currently moving through Congress, the Clarity Act, is unlike anything we’ve seen since the Telecommunications Act of 1996: a large-scale, forward-looking effort to embrace technological change and introduce consumer safeguards for a nascent technology. Like that earlier landmark law, this effort enjoys broad bipartisan support and requires coordination across multiple committees. And that only happens when Congress recognizes the high stakes. For too long, American financial policy has been in a reactive crouch. Since the 2008 financial crisis, virtu
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