Senate to spotlight virtual currencies as
bitcoin plunges
Send a link to a friend
[February 06, 2018]
By Michelle Price and Pete Schroeder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Digital currencies
such as bitcoin will be in the spotlight again on Tuesday as lawmakers
in the U.S. Senate question top markets watchdogs over how to better
regulate the highly volatile and risky emerging asset class.
Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (CFTC), and Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), will give testimony to the Senate Banking
Committee amid growing global unease about the risks virtual currencies
pose to investors and the financial system.

The hearing follows a rout in the price of bitcoin, which plunged more
than 15 percent to near a three-month low on Monday on concerns ranging
from a global regulatory clampdown to a ban by some banks on using
credit cards to buy bitcoin.
On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, bitcoin fell as low as
$6,853.53 in early afternoon trading in New York. That marked a fall of
more than half from a peak of almost $20,000 in December. The currency
surged more than 1,300 percent last year.
Lawmakers on Tuesday are set to probe Giancarlo and Clayton on the
powers of the SEC and CFTC to oversee cryptocurrency exchanges, how the
watchdogs can protect investors from extreme volatility and fraud, and
the risks posed by cyber criminals intent on stealing digital tokens.
[to top of second column]
|

A Bitcoin logo is seen on a cryptocurrency ATM in Santa Monica,
California, U.S., January 4, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

Giancarlo and Clayton will use the hearing to showcase the efforts
their agencies have made to police the market and to highlight
limitations in the regulatory structure, according to their
testimony published on Monday.
The sharp drop in bitcoin on Monday coincided with a broader
sell-off in U.S. stock markets, which plummeted to their lowest
levels in 2018.
(Reporting by Michelle Price, Pete Schroeder and Gertrude
Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Paul Simao)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |