Amber Baldet, CEO of Clovyr testified before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture on July 18, 2018. She also quoted author William Gibson, “The future is here, it’s not just very evenly distributed,” while highlighting the future of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The hearing was titled ‘Cryptocurrencies: Oversight of New Assets in the Digital Age.’ House committee chairman and Republican senator Mike Conaway led the public hearing.

Need to spur innovation in blockchain and cryptocurrency

Amber Baldet testified before the committee and gave her views on cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology. Amber is a member of the Zcash Foundation board and had previously led the blockchain program at JP Morgan’s Corporate and Investment Bank between until April 2018.

She said that the most important revolution brought by cryptocurrencies was the ability to transfer funds to anyone across the world. “The ability to spend, trade, rent, or license unique digital bearer assets could be applicable to many things we own,” said Amber. Several distinguished members of American houses have reservations about cryptocurrencies being used for financing illegal trades and money laundering. Amber explained that, “The peer to peer protocols which underpin crypto asset networks are not much different than those that underpin the internet. They are just rules for how to route bits and bytes. They do not care about the legality or morality of what crosses the wire. They can be used in service of business as usual, political action, commission of crimes, facilitating human rights, or sharing funny photos of cats.”

She made a strong and compelling case for low to zero intervention by financial authorities in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrencies: Commodity or Security?

Mike Conaway said, “The committee has a strong interest in promoting safe, efficient, transparent markets for those who use these tokens in the markets. Properly regulated markets promote innovation and foster economic growth and I don’t believe it will be any different with respect to digital assets.”

The Chair said highlighted the discrepancy whether bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would fall under securities laws or commodities act. Should cryptocurrencies be termed as commodities they will eventually come under the purview of Agriculture Committee.

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