By George Ward
Five United States Democratic lawmakers headed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren have submitted enquires to many financial regulators nationwide. They seek to know the relationship between government agencies and the cryptocurrency world.
Citing a Tech Transparency Project report, the letter stated that up to 200 former government officials were now part of cryptocurrency firms. They serve in several capacities, such as investors and lobbyists.
These lawmakers believe that the fast growth of the crypto industry has accelerated the need for it to have lobbyists with regulators to obtain its desired results.
One means crypto firms are using to achieve this feat is hiring many former government officials.
However, the lawmakers expressed worries that this approach could corrupt the way of making policies and undermine the people’s trust in financial regulators.
The lawmakers went further to say that citizens of the United States of America deserve to be sure that government rules and regulations were not being built to “suit the crypto industry or ‘avoid the kind of regulation it faced in China and other places.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren and other lawmakers propose that financial policymakers provide clarity on the legal guidelines on the period a former civil servant needs to wait before taking up employment in an industry related to where they served as a public servant.
In addition, the lawmakers also want more clarification on culture and transparency rules. Thus, there can be zero conflict of interest between ex-civil servants and their new employers regarding the privacy of agencies’ policies.
The government agencies must reply to the letter before the first week of next month.
Past United States Officials Taking Crypto Jobs
Many former US government officials have taken up jobs in the crypto industry after leaving their civil service jobs.
For instance, Brian Brooks, a former Acting Comptroller of the Currency, served short-term as the chief executive of Binance US.
Also, he has a vested interest in the cryptocurrency start-up company, Solidus Labs. In addition, Brian Brooks is the chief executive officer of the Bitcoin mining firm, Bitfury.
Also, former US SEC chief, Jay Clayton, now works as an advisor to many crypto firms following his exit from the SEC.