Pat McHenry

Given the explosive growth in the stablecoin and cryptocurrency space, it is critical, I believe, that Congress examine how best to establish appropriate guardrails around stablecoins.

I do think we can learn a lot from the State regulatory framework, what they have done well, and the things that we can do better.

Shouldn't we be in the game of de-risking rather than adding to the risk of a Federal bailout or, yes, for these products?

By that same notion, you would like to have a single regulator at the Federal level for all financial institutions.

There are no lessons learned from the States included in this report, and I was interested in why that was.

But what I am asking is a separate question. Look, this is not an adversarial conversation.

I think we can have some consensus here on how we get ahead, but one area that I think this committee should examine is the current State regulatory frameworks.

We should not, as this report does, limit our focus to only the risks.

I hope that today we can think bigger and more comprehensively and discuss the potential benefits of increased use of stablecoins.

We cannot regulate out of fear of the future.

Washington's knee-jerk reaction to regulate out of fear will not allow stablecoins to achieve their full potential.

We are trying to de-risk, not add risk to the Federal taxpayer.

Currently, there is no Federal law to address digital assets.

What is clear is that we need legislation. We agree on that.

I hope we can work together in a bipartisan way.

This is not simply about you on this panel. It is about trillions of dollars of assets that did not exist before Satoshi Nakamoto wrote his White Paper 13 years ago.

Getting this layer on digital assets right, for Congress to understand this, everything is built upon that on-ramp to this new internet.

Let us dispel the rumor now that digital asset technology is a looming threat to our financial system.

My fear, however, is that we will have a partisan divide here.

I would argue that the nascent technology we are discussing today will have just as much impact on our daily lives, perhaps more.

2021 was the year of the cryptocurrency. More Americans than ever are taking notice of this transformational technology.

Forcing the private sector to navigate unclear public statements and regulation by enforcement is the wrong approach.

It is the Administration's agenda that is driving up the cost of things, and is making the American people worse off, not better off.

It is the multiple trillions of dollars that this Congress and this Administration is spending that is putting jet fuel on the fires of this economy.

The economic question that I hear from economists on the left now, and your former San Francisco Fed even acknowledges, is that February stimulus contributed to the inflation we are now experiencing.