In its first 2025 market structure hearing, Congress moved to overhaul securities laws, aiming to rein in SEC overreach and unleash a new era of U.S. crypto innovation.
Congressional Hearing Sounds Alarm on SEC Overreach and Crypto Exodus
U.S. lawmakers gathered in Washington on April 9 as the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence convened its first market structure hearing of the 2025 congressional session. Led by Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, the session—titled “American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets: Aligning the U.S. Securities Laws for the Digital Age”—sought to dissect how current regulatory ambiguities impact both innovation and investor protection in the digital asset space. Testimony from lawmakers and legal experts spotlighted a growing consensus that U.S. securities laws remain misaligned with the operational realities of crypto technologies.
Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, remarked: “Last week, this Committee took an important step toward delivering real legislative certainty for payment stablecoins by advancing the STABLE Act.” The congressman added:
It is incumbent on us to build on that momentum and continue working toward a comprehensive regulatory framework that establishes clear rules of the road for digital asset markets.
Subcommittee Chair Steil emphasized the legislative duty to act: “It is crucial for this Committee to enact legislation that provides clear guidelines for issuers and market participants, facilitates capital formation, and maintains the integrity of both the digital asset ecosystem and the traditional financial system. Through this process, we must ensure that American innovators and entrepreneurs can thrive here at home.”
Legal witnesses called on Congress to define digital asset laws to replace SEC-led regulation. Rodrigo Seira of Cooley LLP stated: “Regulation, technological development, and the flows of financial capital are tightly intertwined and interact in a recurring pattern throughout history … We are living through that moment: it is clear that the current securities regulatory framework is not a viable option to regulate crypto and fails to achieve its stated policy goals.”
Tiffany J. Smith from WilmerHale urged legislative clarity, asserting that while the SEC “has taken steps within its jurisdiction to provide regulatory clarity, these actions alone are not sufficient.” She believes that Congressional action “is necessary to have true regulatory clarity for the digital assets industry.” Polygon’s Chief Legal Officer Jake Werrett noted the broader impact: “What began as a monetary innovation has become a foundation for decentralizing all forms of native digital assets … We cannot afford to be left behind, or to push valuable innovation offshore.”
Rep. Troy Downing of Montana warned that the current posture of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could stifle domestic leadership: “The SEC under former Chairman Gary Gensler pursued an aggressive enforcement regulatory agenda that sought to extend the SEC’s authority over the entirety of the digital asset ecosystem.” He stressed:
Treating every digital asset as a security regardless of its purpose risks the United States forfeiting its leadership in financial technology.