U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin mentions Bitcoin, stablecoins, new crypto regulations coming soon

By Tezos News 02/13/20 7:03 PM

According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin before the Senate Finance Committee, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is a “crucial area” that the Treasury has spent a lot of time on. Besides, Mnuchin also talked a lot about stablecoins as well as new crypto regulations focusing on transparency that will be rolled out soon.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testified before the Senate Finance Committee.

The cryptocurrency began to be mentioned more and more in the United States

Earlier this week, the White House released a report on government budgets for the upcoming 2021 fiscal year. In that report, two proposals are affecting the cryptocurrency industry. One returns the Secret Service to the Department of Treasury. And two requests for more funding for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to enhance its work on regulating the crypto sector.

Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, presented at a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee in a discussion regarding President Donald Trump’s budget for the fiscal year 2021. In it, Senator Todd Young asked Mnuchin about the challenges that cryptocurrencies have created for the U.S. government.

Senator Todd Young

Specifically, according to Young, cryptocurrency fans always believe that they can benefit them by minimizing the transaction costs of online purchases, protecting them from information theft. , provide more privacy; at the same time breaking many financial barriers. However, it is essential for how the Mnuchin’s department can respond and grow to the rapid pace of cryptocurrency growth?

Accordingly, Mnuchin said the Treasury is supportive of the proposals, including those concerning cryptocurrency, outlined in Trump’s new budget. And they have spent a lot of time on Bitcoin, on cryptocurrency and digital payment systems. He emphasized that it was a crucial area.

Besides, Young also referenced Trump’s budget proposals for added crypto oversight and the IRS’ efforts. Specifically, increasing crypto-related enforcement and additional guidance for cryptocurrency.

A new regulatory framework for crypto, Bitcoin and stablecoins is about to be released

After learning about cryptocurrencies, Mnuchin said that the Treasury would address three main areas in this industry. One is a pure cryptocurrency, the other is stablecoin, and the last is central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). He also mentioned another concern that cryptocurrencies could be used to operate outside the current financial system. Such as pure cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They also want to ensure these are not used as the equivalent of secret bank accounts.

Referring to stablecoins, Mnuchin said:

“We think this technology can be used to reduce payment processing quite significantly, especially for small-dollar payments cross-border. Moreover, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and I also agree that the United States does not need to consider releasing a digital dollar right now, but maybe reconsider it.”

He also revealed:

“We are working with FinCEN, and we will be rolling out new regulations to be very clear on greater transparency so that law enforcement can see where the money is going and that this is didn’t used for money laundering.”

It can be seen that Mnuchin’s comment is also closely related to Powell’s testimony before the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee regarding the country’s monetary system and the state of the economy on Tuesday.

As AZCoin News reported, the Fed chairman answered several questions regarding cryptocurrencies, including the digital dollar process. He was encouraged to accelerate work on it because China announced that it would soon roll out the digital Yuan. Powell also acknowledged that Facebook’s Libra project is a wake-up call for the Fed.