SEC Commissioner Sees Growing Demand for Cryptocurrency

Crypto-friendly commissioner with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Fee (SEC), Hester Peirce, mentioned there is a rise in demand for cryptocurrency as traders search to diversify their portfolios. The commissioner has been an avid proponent of the SEC approving bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Rising Curiosity for Cryptocurrency

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, additionally recognized within the crypto group as “Crypto Mom,” talked about cryptocurrency and digital {dollars} throughout a livestream dialogue with Crypto Finance Convention St. Moritz on Tuesday. Noting that the covid-19 pandemic has affected all industries, together with cryptocurrency, she mentioned:

We’re seeing extra curiosity coming from institutional quarters than we’ve previously. I believe that can proceed … as individuals want to diversify their portfolios, I believe persons are additionally prone to look extra to the crypto house.‏‏‎

She elaborated, “As people are more comfortable working in a virtual world in every industry now, I think people are likely to turn more interest to the crypto space.” Peirce beforehand mentioned even earlier than the coronavirus pandemic that one main benefit of the cryptocurrency trade was that it brings collectively individuals from the world over and helps them work collectively just about. Business contributors don’t must be in the identical place to be working collectively.

Peirce was sworn in as an SEC commissioner on Jan. 11, 2018; her time period is because of expire on June 5. She has persistently supported the thought of the SEC approving bitcoin exchange-traded funds however thus far the SEC has not permitted any. In Could final yr, she mentioned the time was already proper for the fee to approve a bitcoin ETF. In February, she introduced her Token Protected Harbor Proposal to fill the hole between regulation and decentralization.

Commissioner Peirce on Digital {Dollars}

Peirce additionally talked about digital {dollars} in the course of the livestream. She mentioned that the topic has drawn extra curiosity to cryptocurrencies and extra individuals at the moment are asking questions on crypto. Noting that “It’s helpful for people to think about the positives and negatives of having it be a government-issued versus a private-issued currency,” she opined:

I’ll say that I believe that the thought of a authorities cryptocurrency, a digital greenback or one thing like that, may be very totally different than among the issues that we’re speaking about with crypto and blockchain and the personal sector, but it surely’s useful to get individuals occupied with this stuff.

Nonetheless, the commissioner cautioned: “You need to think about privacy issues if you’re creating some sort of digital currency. I think that’s a really important question for a society to ask because people don’t really feel comfortable with the government or anybody else monitoring their transactions.”

The Federal Reserve has been learning the prospect of issuing a digital greenback, significantly to compete with Fb’s Libra cryptocurrency and China’s central financial institution digital foreign money. Nonetheless, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly mentioned that the Fed has little interest in issuing a digital greenback proper now. In March, the time period “digital dollar” was included in proposed stimulus payments.

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