Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), has introduced a bill that outlines a federal framework for regulating stablecoins — just two weeks before he is set to retire.
What Happened: Aiming to “guide Congress” toward future crypto regulation, Toomey said his bill would create a new federal license for payment stablecoin issuers and would allow recipients of the license to issue the digital currency and more.
As the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee and an influential figure on crypto policy, Toomey said he is determined to ensure this new license “won’t undermine competition by favoring entrenched incumbents.”
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“By digitizing the U.S. dollar and making it available on a global, instant, and nearly cost-free basis, stablecoins could be widely used across the physical economy in a variety of ways,” Toomey said.
The Toomey Proposal would require issuers of payment stablecoins to fully back their coins with “high-quality liquid assets”, and also establish new, standardized public disclosure requirements. These disclosures include the assets backing the payment stablecoin, redemption policies, and attestations from qualified public accounting firms, ensuring users are given the utmost transparency in their financial instruments.
Why It Matters: Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a constant price and are pegged to fiat currency like the dollar. Some examples of stablecoins are Tether USDT/USD and USD Coin USDC/USD. Toomey was also one of two lawmakers who introduced a bill in July to the U.S. Senate to make small cryptocurrency transactions exempt from capital gains taxes.
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