Senator Toomey: Regulate Stablecoin Or “Bad Things Will Happen”

For all the increased visibility and excitement over novel digital-first investment opportunities, there is an outcry for enhanced government oversight that grows louder every day. One of the loudest voices is that of Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, a ranking member of the Senate’s Banking Committee who recently introduced a bill featuring a raft of new regulations governing stablecoins.

Apparently, Toomey’s concerns about the digital currency are pressing enough that the legislative process is insufficient; so, like anyone else with a problem, Toomey has resorted to drumming up public outrage over the matter.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Toomey floated fears that, if left unregulated, stablecoins could pose significant dangers to consumers and to the financial industry at large. “For both of those reasons,” Toomey said, “I would like to get a sensible framework in place before some bad thing happens. And let’s face it, eventually, some bad things will happen – after all, this is still a relatively new technology.”

Notably, the legislation proposed by Toomey is considerably more laissez-faire than other measures being considered by the Biden administration. Though stablecoin-issuing firms would be required to meet certain transparency measures, the Stablecoin TRUST Act would create a framework for new stablecoin firms to enter the marketplace in the future.