On January 20, the Bloomberg editorial board published an article pointing out that although the U.S. Congress is trying to establish a legal framework for digital assets to encourage innovation while curbing illegal activities, this effort is likely to be ineffective given the weakened power and insufficient resources of regulatory agencies.
The article notes that the Genius Act, a regulatory bill for stablecoins, distributes key responsibilities among multiple regulatory agencies, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a crucial department, already significantly weakened after layoffs and cyberattacks. The Clarity Act, on the other hand, may reduce the SEC's authority, placing most tokens under the jurisdiction of the CFTC. However, the CFTC's budget is only one-sixth that of the SEC, and it also suffers from insufficient manpower and enforcement capabilities.
At the same time, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was responsible for handling consumer complaints related to cryptocurrencies, was almost "dismantled," further weakening the regulatory system.
Bloomberg argues that pushing crypto assets to a wider public and institutional investor base without adequate regulatory capacity could backfire if fraud and crime continue to surface. The article calls for a unified legal framework covering all difficult-to-classify digital assets (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum), with rules jointly developed by the SEC and CFTC to ensure market stability, investor protection, and information disclosure.
The commentary concludes by warning that the crypto market will continue to face the real risk of "buyer beware" until Congress truly grants regulators sufficient power, expertise, and resources.
