How does Congress feel about crypto? Ric Edelman asks Rep. Jim Himes

The following are edited excerpts of Ric Edelman’s conversation with Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., which aired on his radio show and podcast, “The Truth About Your Future.”

RIC EDELMAN: Your background includes time at Goldman Sachs, where you focused on telecom technology, so I’m not surprised that you have an interest in blockchain and digital assets. Is your interest often found on Capitol Hill, or are you solo in your interest in this topic?

REP. JIM HIMES: No, I’m far from solo. Most members of Congress are intrigued by the innovative possibilities that can come out of crypto – including blockchain and NFTs. They are definitely fascinated by the innovative possibilities, but also a little worried.

The government will eventually figure out how to do what they should be doing, which is to regulate what is, at least in a narrow way, a financial market, to make sure that you don’t have widespread fraud, and to make sure that people who buy and sell cryptocurrencies can have some confidence in who they are dealing with.

You have strongly advocated for the US to launch a digital central bank currency, and you recently wrote a white paper on it. Why do you think we need a CBDC?

It helps to start with how currency was developed. A couple of hundred years ago, each state issued its own currency. So did many companies. Eventually, the United States and other countries realized that they needed to have one national currency that people could use when making purchases and saving money.

In the crypto space, I think it’s entirely possible that there could be a whole bunch of different cryptocurrencies. But there is one thing the government can do: Provide a currency that, like a dollar bill, has the backing of the US government. This opens up for people who may be skeptical of the banking system.

For example, let’s imagine that banks start issuing stablecoins. There is a percentage of the American population, often immigrants, who are not comfortable with banks. So you can see how a digital representation of the dollars we have in our wallet can be valuable to some people who might not trust otherwise in the cryptocurrency world.

Is there broad support for a digital currency on Capitol Hill?

Well, I wouldn’t say widespread support, but there are a lot of people who are fascinated by it.

We’ve seen incredible volatility recently, and now it feels like one of those moments where people can say, “Wow, if you could have one of these, it was backed by the government, that would mean something.” There are others who say: “No, look, the authorities don’t need to be in the business. Banks and other private entities should do that.”

So it’s still very much a debate, but there’s some consensus building because even my Republican friends recognize that we probably need to be smarter about fraud and risk.