The United States House Committee on Financial Services is set to hold a hearing on April 19 to discuss stablecoins and their position as a means of payment. The committee issued a memorandum to announce the upcoming hearing, which will be titled “Understanding Stablecoins’ Role in Payments and the Need for Legislation.” It will involve information collected by various federal government agencies over the last year.
Participants testifying at the hearing will include Circle’s chief strategy officer and head of global policy, Dante Disparte. Circle is the company behind USD Coin, an in-house stablecoin offering that recently depegged from the U.S. dollar after revealing it had $3.3 billion of funds stuck at the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank. However, following a bailout of SVB depositors by the U.S. government, USDC repegged its value to the U.S. dollar.
Just days before the upcoming hearing, a draft bill providing a framework for stablecoins in the United States was published in the House of Representatives document repository. The bill would allow the U.S. government to establish standards for interoperability between stablecoins.
Speaking about the draft bill, Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire said, “There is clearly the need for deep, bi-partisan support for laws that ensure that digital dollars on the internet are safely issued, backed and operated.” The bill’s publication comes after concerns have been raised over the lack of regulation for stablecoins, which are digital assets designed to maintain a stable value against a particular currency.
The hearing is expected to provide insight into the role of stablecoins as a means of payment and whether the ecosystem needs supporting legislation. With the growing popularity of stablecoins, regulators and lawmakers are increasingly focused on ensuring they are safe and backed by sufficient reserves. The upcoming hearing could be an important step towards establishing regulatory clarity for the stablecoin industry in the United States.
