Сhair of the Senate finance committee and one of the architects of US internet regulation Ron Wyden told in a recent interview with the Financial Times that the US authorities should be cautious with cracking down on the cryptocurrency industry.
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Moreover, Wyden urged his colleagues to protect innovations in the crypto space despite concerns about fraud and money laundering. He said:
"There is obviously a debate [about crypto regulation] but I want to be on the side of the innovator. When I think about crypto I think about remittances, or somebody who has a kid 1,000 miles away and wants to get them help in an emergency, rather than going through scores of banks, credit card companies."
He added that the crypto industry in its current state is similar to the internet in its early days. Back then he and colleagues in Congress drew up legal protections — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — for web platforms in the internet. That step was made to avoid being sued for content that users post on their websites, Wyden explained.
Earlier in March, the US authorities asked crypto exchanges to help prevent the use of digital currencies to circumvent sanctions imposed on Russian individuals and organizations.
Bloomberg reported citing sources close to the matter that the White House National Security Council and the US Department of the Treasury had asked operators of the world's largest decentralized crypto platforms to stop any attempts to circumvent restrictions imposed by the US and its partners following the geopolitical conflict that broke out between Russia and Ukraine.
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