U.S. House Committee Plans for Heap of Crypto Hearings in September

The U.S. House of Representatives’ financial-services committee is said to be tackling a ton of crypto issues next month, including DeFi and Securities and Exchange Commission matters.

Digital assets will likely be a hot topic for SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who is said to be scheduled to face the entire committee later in September.

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee is poised to launch a series of crypto hearings digging into several aspects of the industry, according to a person briefed on the planning, including decentralized finance (DeFi), the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight of digital assets businesses and the implications of “pig butchering” scams.

The congressional panel, which has oversight over U.S. securities and most financial products, will set a September hearing calendar jammed with crypto-relevant topics, the person said. The committee chairman, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), is retiring at the end of the year and has said one of his top remaining priorities is finishing one of the bills to begin establishing tailored federal rules for crypto.

The first of the hearings on Sept. 10 will be a long-awaited subcommittee examination of DeFi, an aspect of the crypto industry that’s received mostly negative attention from regulators to date. A number of proposed rules at various federal agencies could have existential consequences for DeFi projects, including at the SEC and Internal Revenue Service.

A busy day on Sept. 18 will feature two hearings – one in the morning on the enforcement practices of the SEC and one later on the implications of so-called pig butchering, the practice of posing as a romantic partner to scam people out of their assets.

But a full-committee hearing on Sept. 23 could carry the most crypto weight, with the SEC set to testify. The House panel is said to be seeking testimony from Chair Gary Gensler and the rest of the five-member commission in the same hearing – a highly unusual approach.

They’d appear just as the lawmakers are also negotiating legislation that could seek to hem in the agency’s digital assets jurisdiction in favor of casting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a more prominent role. The possibility of crypto legislation remains dicey this year, though the calendar includes time for work on bills, and prominent lawmakers – including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) – keep saying they intend to get something done.

A spokesperson for the committee chairman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the schedule planning.

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