FSOC Calls for Legislation on Crypto Spot Markets

Source: American Banker

The Financial Stability Oversight Council published its report on crypto regulation Monday, calling for the most significant and specific action from Congress yet out of the batch of reports written at the behest of President Biden. 

The wide-ranging report asks Congress to pass laws that would help regulators oversee crypto assets that aren't securities, that regulators take steps to prevent regulatory arbitrage and that regulators study digital asset firms that offer direct access to markets by retail customers. It's part of a series of reports in response to Biden's March 9 executive order that called on the FSOC, the Treasury Department and other regulators to study the growing impact of digital assets. 

The report warns of dangerous regulatory holes in spot markets, an area that other reports on digital assets haven't discussed in detail. Those markets, according to the report, don't have the same kinds of regulations that securities markets do, and regulators have found "possible sources of fraud and manipulation in the spot Bitcoin market."