Hearing Entitled: Navigating the Digital Payments Ecosystem
Committee on Banking and Currency
2025-03-11
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Source: Congress.gov
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like to invite our witnesses to go to the witness table please Thank you. The Committee on Financial Services will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the Committee at any time. This here is entitled, Navigating the Digital Payments Ecosystem, Examining a Federal Framework for Payment Stablecoins and Consequences of a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency. Without objection, all members will have five legislative days within which to submit extraneous materials to the Chair for inclusion in the record. I now recognize myself for four minutes for an opening statement.
Good morning and welcome to today's hearing entitled Navigating the Digital Payment Ecosystem, Examining a Federal Framework for Payment Stablecoins and the Consequences of a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency. Global payment systems are leveraging technology and modernizing legacy infrastructure, driving innovation and expanding access while lowering costs. The evolution of payment stablecoins and their increasing adoption beyond the digital asset ecosystem reflect broader modernization efforts in the United States and the global payment infrastructure. Every day, there are billions of dollars of stablecoin transactions reducing friction and cross-border payments, streamlining commercial transactions, and giving more communities broader access to digital financial tools. Since 2022, committee Republicans have worked to establish a legislative framework that strengthens their potential to become a cornerstone of a modern payment system. Last Congress, this committee passed the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act of 2023. At the start of the 119th Congress, we built upon this foundation in coordination with the Senate Banking Committee. The House product, the Stable Act, which we notice as a part of today's hearing, reflects these key themes. Since its initial notice at Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Brian Stiles' hearing last month, we've incorporated updates to the discussion draft based on the extensive written feedback that we've received. These refinements serve to strengthen the operational standards for payment stablecoin issuers, as well as clarify the supervision and enforcement authorities of state and federal regulators that will oversee these entities. The STABLE Act also makes sure that Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering compliance along with cybersecurity and oversight are a critical part of the framework. The committee is grateful for the engagement and the feedback that we've received on the STABLE Act, and we hope it will continue as we further iterate and strengthen this legislation.
A properly regulated stablecoin market can strengthen the U.S. dollar's dominance, modernize our payment infrastructure, and promote financial access without government overreach. It's essential that we deliberate and get this job done and done right. Unfortunately, there's a competing vision about the future of digital money, one that puts the government at the center of every transaction, and that's a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. A government-controlled digital dollar would put the Federal Reserve in direct competition with the private sector and undermine the very progress that stablecoins are making. Chair Dan Muser's oversight and investigation subcommittee has explored the troubling cases of debanking of politically favored industries. Unlike stable coins, which operate in a competitive market, a CBDC would concentrate financial power within the federal government, restrict consumer choice, and undermine innovation that has made the U.S. financial markets the strongest, most liquid in the world. A CBDC would also suppress competition, jeopardize financial privacy, and weaken the role of the U.S. banking system. I'm so grateful to my colleague and friend, Republican Whip Tom Emmer, for leading the charge to prohibit a U.S. CBDC, and I thank him for the work that he's done to get his Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act reintroduced in this Congress and noticed for this hearing. Before I close, I want to emphasize that in addition to payment stablecoins, this committee has continued its efforts on a bipartisan basis to begin the work that we began last Congress to establish a comprehensive framework for digital assets market structure. We're moving full steam ahead in this Congress to strengthen and expand that pro-innovation agenda. I look forward to today's discussion, and I yield back the balance of my time. I now recognize with pleasure the ranking member of the full committee, Mrs.
Waters, for a four-minute opening statement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For years, I and my colleagues have sought to craft common sense crypto legislation with great rails for consumers and strong oversight. In less than two months, President Trump and Elon Musk have undermined all of this work. In fact, since taking office, Trump has only enriched himself, his crypto cabinet and the rest of the crypto billionaire class. And he has done nothing to improve the economy, let alone anything to bring down the cost of groceries, energy or housing, as he promised. In fact, under Trump. Egg prices are up 53%, and just yesterday, the S&P 500 fell. a blistering 2.7%. Trump started with the Mimi Cohen scheme that scammed investors out of $2 billion, while Trump, his family, and other insiders pocketed $350 million. And just last week, Trump signed an executive order to spend US taxpayer resources to create a fund of billions of dollars of crypto that would squarely enrich Trump, Musk, and MAGA cronies already holding these cryptocurrencies. Mr. Chairman, despite my belief that the Trump administration only wants crypto legislation that personally benefits them and protects their crypto financers. I still hope we can work together on a bill that requires stable coins be robustly and fairly regulated. Unfortunately, the bill noticed, but this hearing strips away critical protections to shield investors from criminals. The bill also tears down the wall
that was used to separate banking from commerce, allowing big tech firms, including those owned by Elon Musk, to issue their own money, just like Facebook tried to do with Libra. I'm proud of how this committee stopped Libra and Facebook, and I will do everything that I can to stop Musk also.
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