Crypto Markets Today: Bitcoin Holds Steady Above $23K, White House Urges Congress to ‘Step Up’ Crypto Regulation
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Bitcoin (BTC): The largest cryptocurrency by market value was recently trading at $23,100, up 0.4% in the past 24 hours, as traders awaited next week’s Federal Open Market Committee decision on interest rates. BTC has rallied almost 40% since Jan. 1, on track for its best opening to a year since 2013 when it surged 51%.
Equities closed up as traders processed the latest Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, which showed a slowdown in inflation at the end of last year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.95%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) were up 0.25% and 0.08%, respectively.
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Four senior Biden administration officials published a statement on Friday urging Congress to “step up its efforts” with respect to regulating the cryptocurrency market.
The officials – Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council; Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors; and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan – wrote that Congress “should expand regulators’ powers to prevent misuses of customers’ assets … and to mitigate conflicts of interest.”
Other suggestions for Congress in the statement included strengthening transparency and disclosure requirements for crypto companies, strengthening penalties for violations of illicit-finance rules and working more closely with international law enforcement partners.
The officials also made suggestions about what Congress should not do in terms of crafting new crypto regulation, including “greenlight[ing] mainstream institutions, like pension funds, to dive headlong into cryptocurrency markets.”
To do so, the officials warned, “would be a grave mistake” that “deepens ties between cryptocurrencies and the broader financial system.”
