In brief – Rep.
Brad Sherman said allowing government payments in stablecoins would “sanctify an alternative to the U.S. dollar” built to “facilitate a tax-evasion economy.” – His rebuke followed NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman’s pitch that stablecoins could speed up tax refunds and emergency stimulus payments. – The clash came at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on regulators’ progress implementing the GENIUS Act
Long-time crypto critic U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA-32) took aim at government stablecoin payments during a House hearing on banking regulators Thursday, arguing that they would facilitate tax evasion.
During the hearing on Oversight of Prudential Regulators, National Credit Union Administration Chairman Kyle Hauptman pitched the prospect of the federal government distributing money in stablecoins, noting that stablecoins settle around the clock, unlike traditional rails bound by business days. Hauptman suggested that, “Tax refunds may eventually arrive on Sundays or holidays,” and that emergency stimulus payments could be delivered in a “more timely and secure manner.” Sherman responded that, “I can’t think of a worse idea,” arguing that government payments in stablecoins “would sanctify an alternative to the U.S. dollar, an alternative designed to facilitate a tax-evasion economy.” Hauptman framed dollar-pegged tokens as a tool to defend the greenback against rivals in Beijing, Tehran and Moscow and maintain the dollar’s “global status” through stimulating demand for Treasuries. The issue of stablecoin yield also surfaced, with Sherman warning that “the smartest, or at least the best-paid lawyers in the country” were already hunting for loopholes around interest payments on stablecoins, and urging supervisors to “write regulations that withstand that.” World Liberty in the spotlight The hearing also saw Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould defend his agency’s handling of Trump-linked World Liberty Financial’s national trust-bank charter…