U.S. House Financial Services Committee Will Discuss if Cryptocurrencies are ‘The Future of Money’ Next Week13.07.2018

The Financial Services Committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress announced that a hearing on "The Future of Money: Digital Currency" will be held on July 18. Although the Committee, chaired by Chairman Jeb Hensarling, has not yet officially announced this, there is information that a live broadcast of the event will be available on the Committee's website.

Past hearings of the Committee led to the fact that lawmakers discussed cryptocurrencies through the prism of financing of terrorism and fraudulent investments. However, the topic of the hearing next week will focus on the discussion of the utility of cryptocurrency as a form of money.

This is a very topical issue in the light of the growing interest in cryptocurrency as potentially useful monetary tools for governments and central banks around the world. But not everyone agrees with this opinion - in March, the Bank for International Settlements stated that it was concerned about "terrible consequences for the global financial system" that could provoke national cryptocurrencies, a similar position is taken by the Central Bank of South Korea.

Although some financial regulators, for example, in Norway and England, are exploring the possibility of issuing their own cryptocurrency, most countries with advanced economies have so far rejected this possibility. Not so long ago, the Central Bank of Hong Kong refused to issue its own cryptocurrency.

At the same time, some states see in the cryptocurrencies the way out of their difficult financial and trading situation. The most attention was attracted to Venezuela, releasing its own cryptocurrency Petro in February this year. Following her, several Latin American states announced similar intentions, but so far none of them has implemented this bold move.

It is because of such contradictory views of the world Central Bank on the cryptocurrency industry in general and the issue of national currency , it  will be very interesting to know the position of American legislators on this issue.