Credit Union National Administration (CUNA) officials sent a letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee this week, calling upon Congress to ensure that digital ledger technology comes with proper consumer protections.
CUNA also reiterated its call for Congress to allow credit unions to offer regulated digital asset services
“Congress should explore ways to regulate the delivery of financial services using digital currencies to ensure that consumers are protected in the same way if they received financial services from a financial institution,” CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle wrote to the committee leaders. “Furthermore, Congress should look for ways enable credit unions and other financial institutions to provide digital asset related services so that these services can be properly overseen by Federal regulators.”
The letter was addressed to Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR).
Nussle points out that while credit unions are subject to significant consumer protection and safety and soundness regulations, many of the crypto and digital currency sectors operate outside these safeguards.
“[T]he fundamental innovation of cryptocurrency is the elimination of the financial intermediary,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, when there is no financial intermediary, the functions that they provide also are lost, presenting users of this technology with significant risk: just ask bitcoin owners who have lost or forgotten their digital wallet password.”