Today in TechREG, a group of European Union lawmakers informed Parliament about their visit to Silicon Valley highlighting the positive feedback from Big Tech to the new EU regulation but raising questions about future compliance. In the U.S., Big Tech companies may need to deal with a new regulator if Congress passes a new bill that seeks to create the Federal Digital Platform Commission.
SEC, CFTC’s Crypto Aspirations To Be Tested by Courts, Lawmakers
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) seem to be the most active agencies in regulating crypto. Yet their jurisdictional limits to oversight crypto assets aren’t clear. The agencies seem confident they have broad crypto regulatory mandates, but Congress and some courts may set boundaries.
The soon-to-be-announced crypto bill by U.S. Senators Lummis and Gillibrand may continue, at least partially, the same line established by regulators while increasing the role of the CFTC. According to the senators, the bill could lean on the CFTC as the main regulator for spot markets and futures while leaving the SEC as supervisor of crypto that can be defined as securities according to the Howey test.
Big Tech in the US Could Have Its Own Regulator Under New Bill
Google, Meta, Apple, Amazon and other tech companies may need to deal with a new digital platform regulator in the U.S. if Congress passes a bill that seeks to create a Commission to rein in Silicon Valley’s power.
Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Peter Welch introduced the Digital Platform Commission Act of 2022 in the Senate and the House respectively in May. This bill, if approved, would establish a new five-person commission tasked with protecting consumers in the age of Big Tech. The bill seems to take ideas from different legal texts around the world, in particular from other bills introduced in the U.S., Europe and the U.K.
EU Lawmakers Inform Parliament on Silicon Valley Visit
A group of EU lawmakers who visited Silicon Valley last week informed Parliament on Monday. During the trip, the delegation met with representatives from Google, Meta, Apple, Airbnb, eBay, Paypal, Uber, Salesforce, the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, Cloudfare, AT&T, Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society, game developers, HP Inc and Argo AI.
Lawmakers discussed with some of the largest companies that will be most affected by the DMA-DSA package such as Meta, Google and Apple. Their feedback was mostly positive, according to the policymakers, although they said that “we will have to see how compliant or litigious they will be once the DMA and DSA enter into force.” They also met indirect beneficiaries of the legislation such as SMEs, who will be able to compete on equal terms in some of the markets that the DMA will open up.
Chinese State Media Signals Tougher Crypto Regulations
China has used its Economic Daily media outlet to signal that further regulatory action may be taken toward stablecoins in the wake of the collapse of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin.
After banning crypto exchanges back in 2017, the Chinese government has been toughening its stance on crypto again since mid-2021. Multiple agencies warned of the risk of investing in crypto, and a major crackdown on mining within the country took place.
