Bitcoin price trades near $50,000 following congressional hearing
Bitcoin is down more than 11% in the past week
Politicians need to get up to speed on crypto: Brunell
Podcast host Natalie Brunell reacts to crypto CEOs testifying before lawmakers on 'Making Money.'
Bitcoin was trading around the $50,000 level Thursday morning.
Cryptocurrencies were the focus on Capitol Hill on Wednesday at a House Financial Services Committee hearing.
Leaders from major crypto exchanges, mining and other related businesses testified for four-and-a-half hours.
The fast-growing industry understands more regulation is likely coming, but its representatives don't want it to squelch the next wave of the internet or send it offshore to other countries.
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Much of the discussion centered on protections for investors in a burgeoning ecosystem that critics have called the "Wild West."
How to regulate digital assets has been the big issue. There's still disagreement about whether cryptocurrencies should come under the guidance of the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory agencies should monitor certain areas of the market, or whether an entirely new regulatory body is needed.
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"Currently, cryptocurrency markets have no overarching or centralized regulatory framework, leaving investments in the digital asset space vulnerable to fraud, manipulation and abuse," said U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee.
"Currently, cryptocurrency markets have no overarching or centralized regulatory framework, leaving investments in the digital asset space vulnerable to fraud, manipulation and abuse."
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., speaks in Detroit, Oct. 28, 2017. (Reuters)
Many Republicans on the committee, meanwhile, pushed for a light touch on regulation.
U.S. Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., for example, asked industry executives how Congress could prevent innovation from leaving the United States and happening offshore.
"I’m optimistic that on the regulatory side, we’re not that far from that point," said Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of trading exchange FTX. "I think there are a few clarifications that could go a very long way here."
He cited having a single, unified regulatory framework for the trading of actual cryptocurrencies and the futures contracts related to them, as well as having audit requirements for the reserves of stablecoins, among other things.
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The executives testifying at the hearing were Jeremy Allaire, CEO of stablecoin-issuer Circle; Bankman-Fried of FTX; Brooks of Bitfury Group; Charles Cascarilla, CEO of blockchain-infrastructure firm Paxos Trust Company; Denelle Dixon, CEO of Stellar Development Foundation, which works in payments and Alesia Haas of Coinbase.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.