US Senator Calls for Light Crypto Regulation That Doesn’t Kill Innovation and Drive Companies Offshore

A U.S. senator says Congress needs to regulate the crypto industry “with a light touch that doesn’t kill innovation in the U.S.” Noting that crypto “has the potential to disrupt much of the traditional banking model,” he stressed that crypto regulation needs to be appropriate to avoid driving companies offshore.

‘We Need to Regulate With a Light Touch’

Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the U.S. Senate Banking and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, addressed JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s controversial remarks about bitcoin and cryptocurrency during an interview with Bloomberg and in a post on social media platform X on Thursday.

Commenting on Dimon’s statement made during a Senate hearing that he would close down crypto and bitcoin if he were the government, Hagerty wrote:

I can understand why large banks are opposed to cryptocurrencies — the technology has the potential to disrupt much of the traditional banking model. This is not a fight for DC to pick sides on. We need to regulate with a light touch that doesn’t kill innovation in the U.S.

The senator was asked during the Bloomberg interview whether the government should do more to regulate crypto.

While acknowledging the potential threat crypto poses to traditional banking, he emphasized the need for fostering innovation instead of stifling it. “We need to come back and look at this industry,” he stressed, urging Congress to “maintain the innovative aspects of the cryptocurrency industry rather than push it offshore.”

The lawmaker added:

We need to figure out a good way, a proper way, an appropriate way to regulate cryptocurrency here with a light enough touch that will allow us to continue to lead the way with innovation.

Hagerty is among the lawmakers who have criticized the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Chair Gary Gensler for taking an enforcement-centric approach to regulating the crypto industry.

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