Bitfury CEO and former Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks has hinted the regulatory surroundings in the United States could drive many crypto firms exterior the country, and has already stymied companies attempting to offer a multifariousness of financial products.

Speaking at a Wednesday hearing on Digital Avails and the Time to come of Finance with the House Committee on Financial Services, congressperson Ted Budd said he feared the current policy of regulation past enforcement in the U.Due south. could "force the next generation of financial tech to be created outside of our country." Speaking on behalf of Bitfury, Brooks said:

"There are some products that are legal in other countries and are just not legal here," said Brooks. "One of the things that makes crypto risky is that consumers may not understand the departure betwixt one token and some other token, then they may desire to diversify [...] we don't permit that in the U.s. — we do allow it in Canada, we let it in Federal republic of germany, Singapore, Portugal and a number of other places." He added:

"If you lot're a developer of [substitution-traded funds], at that place's no fuzzy line, it'south super clear: You cannot do that here, so you have to get abroad."
Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks addressing the Firm Commission on Financial Services on Wednesday

Brooks placed the lack of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, in the U.Due south. on the Securities and Substitution Committee. Though the regulator has recently approved ETFs with exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) futures from investment managers ProShares and Valkyrie, it has yet to give the green light for BTC or other crypto ETFs. In dissimilarity, many U.S. companies with operations in Canada take successfully practical with local regulators for ETFs with straight exposure to crypto.

Related: More than 40 digital currency ETFs look US regulatory approval

Nevertheless, the old OCC head suggested the lack of approval of crypto investment products was more than of a result of the United States' "fragmented approach to regulation," given the number of bodies overseeing banks, finance and now digital assets. Brooks proposed a solution in which traditional financial institutions would be treated in much the same way as crypto.

"When I hear people talk most the thought that nosotros demand one regulator for crypto, I would say we should first have one regulator for banks, simply we have iii of them," said Brooks. "The concluding matter we demand to do is add another regulator to a system that'due south already got dozens of regulators.

"If I'm a crypto lending platform, I should probably exist regulated past the FDIC. If I'm a crypto trading platform, I should probably exist regulated by the CFTC and SEC, but somehow we treat crypto, considering information technology'due south new, as different than everything else. I'grand gonna argue that crypto is only a step function improvement in the system."

CEOs from Circumvolve, FTX, Bitfury, Paxos, Stellar Evolution Foundation and Coinbase Inc. are currently fielding questions from U.S. lawmakers on the land of digital assets in the land. Cointelegraph reported earlier on Wednesday that House representatives have expressed concerns over token projects exerting centralized control over many users' assets.