- United States Acting Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Michael Hsu, has said that crypto is taking up too much of regulators’ time
- Hsu said that crypto “has thorny issues” but that regulators have bigger banking fish to fry
- Hsu said last year that regulators needed to work out who was responsible for crypto
United States Acting Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Michael Hsu, is concerned that regulators are spending “too much time on crypto,” rather than more immediate concerns, such as technology and banking. Hsu told Reuters that authorities are “overweight” in their interest in cryptocurrency at the moment, saying that the sector was taking up “a lot of brain space” that threatened to ignore other areas that need their attention.
Regulators Are “Overweight” With Crypto
Hsu was discussing the future of banking when, naturally, the subject of cryptocurrency came up. However, unlike almost everyone else in positions of power in the U.S., Hsu is actually worried that regulators are devoting too much time and attention to the nascent sector:
We’re spending too much time on crypto. It’s interesting, it has thorny issues… but relative to other technology and banking issues, I think we’re now kind of overweight crypto.
Hsu cautioned that, with so many policymakers focused on the sector, which still represents a fraction of the global financial space, other matters more relevant for banks may be neglected:
Crypto is just occupying a lot of brain space for an awful lot of people, both on [Capitol] Hill and the regulatory community. The persistence of the occupation of brain space, it’s starting to worry me now that we’re not spending that time and attention on some other things.
Hsu Wants Regulators to Work Out Who Will Control Crypto
Hsu took the interim job last year, saying at the time of his instalment that U.S. financial regulators should work closer together to create a “regulatory perimeter” for the cryptocurrency market, but that this could be some years away as it cannot yet be determined who actually has responsibility over the various aspects of the ecosystem.
Which is why there’s so much time being spent on it, duh.
