Blockchain arms race risks being won by ‘adversarial nations’ — US crypto lobby group

May 19, 2023 Alex Rustok

A blockchain lobbying group backed by the likes of Goldman Sachs, Citi Group, Circle and Fidelity has urged the United States Congress to pass a legal framework for digital assets or risk falling behind other nations.

On May 19, the U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce sent a call to action to Congress and the Senate to prioritize passing a national approach to crypto regulation.

The organization added that it requests that Congress organize a “Digital Asset and Blockchain Technology Solarium Commission” to develop a “national strategic approach to digital assets and blockchain technology” in the U.S.

There was a stark warning that failure to act would enable “adversarial nations” to further their activities in the space that “endanger U.S. leadership and dollar primacy.”

Excerpt of Chamber of Digital Commerce call to action. Source: Chamber of Digital Commerce

It mentioned China as an example of such adversarial action with its development of an internationally focused Blockchain-based Services Network (BSN) to “incorporate global development and trade and fill the U.S.-created vacuum.”

It also cited the growing number of countries considering or choosing to trade with China directly in yuan and ditching the U.S. dollar. These include Saudi Arabia, Russia, France, Brazil and India, it wrote.

On a similar note, the organization mentioned the potential BRICS digital currency and other developments regarding gold-backed digital currencies by Russia and Iran.

The brief concluded that regulatory and legal opacity in the U.S. is “hampering the nation’s ability to lead and take advantage of this innovation revolution,” adding:

“This abdication is severely hampering domestic development and ceding advantages to other nations at the expense of the U.S. innovator and investor.”

The name of the proposed commission references Project Solarium, which President Eisenhower created in the wake of World War II and at the dawning of the Cold War to counter the threat of Soviet expansion.

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission was created in 2019 to develop a strategic approach to defend against cyberattacks. The crypto advocacy group wants a similar strategy on digital assets and blockchain technology, which “desperately needs consensus in the wake of other nations’ advances.”

Related: US Chamber of Commerce slams SEC’s ‘haphazard’ regulation efforts

The Chamber of Digital Commerce is an American advocacy group founded in 2014 that promotes emerging technologies in the blockchain sector.

On May 19, the group backed Senator Tom Emmer for introducing the Securities Clarity Act, which aims to provide much-needed regulatory clarity for the crypto asset and blockchain industry in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission remains adamant that the existing rules that were formed decades ago still apply to this new form of digital finance and its underlying technology.

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