The United States Senate considered the issue of regulating digital currencies

Not so long ago, the Banking Committee of the United States Senate heard the issue of regulating digital assets, which was attended not only by legislative authorities but also by industry experts. “Blockchain is a great technology, but it cannot satisfy all the needs of people who do not have direct access to the services provided by the bank.” This opinion was the main leitmotif of a hearing on the regulation of digital currencies held in the United States Senate. The legislative authorities and some industry representatives at this meeting had time to study in detail the issue of the fact that technology will stimulate the expansion of access to various financial services. B. Schatz, a U.S. senator, asked a question to D. Ellair, CEO of Circle Internet Financial, right during the hearing: “Do you really think that in a society where only 81 percent of the population currently owns a smartphone, we are close to democratizing the use of blockchain-based products? I, for one, have no doubt that this technology has good potential. But at the same time, it seems to me that it is not able to serve people who have a small income.” B. Schatz believes that blockchain as a tool can be used quite widely, but this does not mean that it will solve the problem of access to various bank services. D. Ellair did not deny that this problem needs to be addressed comprehensively. He believes so: “This is a problem of politics and people. There are also risks that we constantly face head-on in the core of the financial system itself. With the help of blockchain, we can get a few steps closer to solving them, but we also cannot solve them all at the same time.” It’s not about the technology M. Baradaran, a professor of law at a California university, also participated in the hearing and said that about ¼ of all Americans do not have access to the financial system and spend a huge amount of money to pay for the services of alternative providers in order to quickly access cash. But it is also considered not entirely a technological problem, but rather an important policy issue for the entire country. According to the professor, individuals who do not have access to services with financial resources should use a separately created access point. And although blockchain is considered a technology that can help in this matter, there are still many simpler options for solving this problem. She also said: “The main problem of low-income users, as well as lack of access to various financial services, is that they are simply isolated from the banking industry. Such clients have no opportunity to use credit cards, as banks do not want to serve such users.” Mr. Schatz also said that he does not consider blockchain to be a completely useless technology, but that its implementation requires a whole list of additional steps that are currently unknown to anyone. He said: “We need to realize what this technology can do. Just if we want to create a regulatory framework, we need to know exactly what problems we may face. It is also important to explore the potential of blockchain technology.” Brooks, the director of legal affairs, published a post on Twitter after the hearing, saying that “even people who are skeptical of the potential of digital currencies often recognize the shortcomings of the current financial system and also realize the possible consequences of excluding large segments of the population from the classic banking sector.” Brooks also says that blockchain is the latest breakthrough in P2P technology, and will likely be needed to improve the current financial system. The first information about plans to hold a hearing in the United States Senate appeared about a week ago. At that time, it was assumed that representatives of the legislative authorities and industry experts would discuss certain regulatory control measures, but it turned out to be somewhat different. The legislative bodies of the United States of America have discussed the issues of the cryptocurrency industry that have arisen over the past 30 days to the maximum extent possible. It is worth noting that the U.S. Congress has already held several meetings to discuss the cryptocurrency industry. For example, the last hearing was held a week ago and was dedicated to a project called Libra.