Commerce Department Seeks Public Comment on US Crypto Framework

Following President Joe Biden’s executive order on digital assets announced in March, the Secretary of Commerce and other relevant agency heads have been directed to work together on a framework to boost competitiveness in digital assets.

With that will come a request for public input, which must be received by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on July 5, 2022.

According to a notice submitted to the Federal Register Thursday (May 19), the primary goals are to protect customers and businesses, protect the stability of the country, mitigate crimes, reinforce leadership in the global finance world, protect the safety of financial services and support tech advances promoting the use of digital assets.

The executive order noted that the digital assets often involve cross-border work, so there’s a need for collaboration among authorities, and that the U.S. has often been involved in innovating on new technologies.

The U.S. is also reportedly looking to keep up with the goals of the G-7 in terms of regulating the new assets.

With the request for comment, the executive order will seek to get information about how a digital asset business would work ideally, what kinds of challenges are present and what the roles for crypto mining might be in the future, among other things.

PYMNTS wrote recently that a bipartisan group of Congress members requested information from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about its cryptocurrency probe, making sure innovation isn’t being squashed because of “overreaching requests for information.”

See also: Bipartisan Congressional Group Asks SEC for Info About Crypto Probes

SEC Chair Gary Gensler was asked in a letter to detail how often the SEC sends voluntary document requests to crypto and blockchain companies.

The report said the SEC can request information, providing the demands aren’t at odds with the Paperwork Reduction Act, which restricts how much inconvenience the federal government can pile on private companies.

“Crypto startups must not be weighed down by extra-jurisdictional and burdensome reporting requirements,” Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said in a press release. “The SEC must ensure that its information-seeking requests to private crypto and blockchain firms are not overburdensome, unnecessary, and do not stifle innovation.”