Coinbase Chief Brian Armstrong to Meet US Lawmakers to Discuss Crypto Future

Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase crypto exchange, is looking to meet with policymakers from the US. The agenda of Armstrong's rendezvous with the Democrats revolves around opening discussions on the future of the digital assets sector in the US. Valued at $1.2 trillion (roughly Rs. 98,47,344 crore) as of Tuesday, July 18, the crypto sector is largely unregulated around the world and is infamous for its volatile nature that poses financial risks to its investor community.

Armstrong, is his meeting, is expected to address topics like crypto taxes, concerns around privacy and data collection, as well as the current industrial climate around crypto in the US, an Aljazeera report said, citing an anonymous New Democrat Coalition spokesperson. The date of this meeting remains undisclosed.

The development comes after Coinbase has been in a scuffle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since earlier this year. The SEC has alleged that the exchange along with its competitor Binance, had failed to disclose and register their complete operational portfolio with the federal agency.

On the other hand, crypto exchanges have argued that crypto tokens are not securities and hence should not fall under the oversight of the SEC.

Since the US does not have a concrete rulebook to govern the crypto sector, the Web3 industry players as well as community members are often running into legal and financial troubles, that hinders the growth of the overall sector.

Last month, Republican representative Patrick McHenry, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee had said that in the coming weeks, he intended to hold a committee vote on a comprehensive bill concerned with governing the cryptocurrency sector.

Meanwhile, the crypto sector has received scepticism in the US Senate by senior members including Senators Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren.

As of February 2023, a report by Coinbase estimated that 20 percent of US residents, that make for around 50 million people, owned cryptocurrencies. For most Americans, the interest towards cryptocurrencies is on the rise because they feel that the global financial system unfairly favours the interests of the powerful.