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EP 36: US Congress Yadira Caraveo
66 Plays1 month ago
Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo shares insights on navigating the complex world of digital asset regulation and bipartisan collaboration. She highlights the conversation highlights the FIT21 bill, Colorado’s leadership in tech, and the need for financial inclusion in modern legislation.
Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome to this Owl Explains Hootenanny, our podcast series where you can wise up on blockchain and web3 as we talk to the people seeking to build a better internet. Owl Explains is powered by Avalabs, a blockchain software company and participant in the avalanche ecosystem. My name is Silvia Sanchez, project manager of Owl Explains and with that I'll hand it over to today's amazing speakers.
00:00:34
Speaker
Thank you for joining us in this wonderful episode of Owl Explains, sponsored by Ava Labs. My name is Norma Cram, and I'm the Vice President and Chair of the Cybersecurity Privacy and Digital Innovation Practice at Fansquik Associates. And we are so lucky to have a special guest this week.
00:00:50
Speaker
someone who will share with us a very unique perspective on the ongoing policy debates in Congress on critical issues of technology, blockchain, and digital assets. So I am thrilled to welcome Congresswoman Caraveo, who represents the 8th District of Colorado to this week's podcast.
00:01:06
Speaker
As I mentioned, we are going to be talking about important priorities Congress has placed on the wide world of digital assets, cryptocurrency, blockchain, and more. Now, before we do that, though, I do want everyone to know a little bit about the Congresswoman. She's been a stalwart leader on these issues and a visionary as she has been working on in a very important leadership role in the House agriculture committee, particularly as the lead Democrat on the subcommittee of commodity markets, digital assets and rural development, which is direct oversight over CFTC's regulation of digital assets. But in 2022, she made history. She became the Colorado's first Latina federal representative. She is a doctor and she has served in the Colorado legislature.
00:01:52
Speaker
She's a critical player in the halls of Congress and has showcased her tremendous expertise and practical views on really how to manage some of these issues, particularly as Congress was debating a bill we'll talk about in just a few minutes called FIT21. Congresswoman Caravillo, first, you know a welcome to you. And before we start, you know any thoughts or ideas or or words you'd like to kick us off with?
00:02:16
Speaker
Well, thank you so much, Norma, for having me ah today. And I'm ah very excited to to talk about an area of legislation that not um every legislator is comfortable with, but that is um increasingly important, um especially to ah younger voters. And it's ah something that Colorado has led on um and that I have been ah happy to to work on with members of of both parties.
00:02:41
Speaker
Well, thank you so much. And and we're just going to jump right in because you hit on a very important issue or or two very important issues. One is just the nature of ah both what Coloradans really care about, key tech issues and and what that next generation is really focused on.
00:02:58
Speaker
And particularly in your time in the Colorado State House as you worked on these issues in general, but tell us why you think think ah issues like blockchain and digital assets matter so much to your district and to Coloradans in general. Well, Colorado really is a state of innovators and we take pride in being at the forefront of cutting edge technologies. We've seen that.
00:03:19
Speaker
um around startups, around um aerospace here, around um tech the tech industry, um and around crypto, where we actually are the first state to accept taxes, um tax payments in ah cryptocurrency, and so um and then we are the host of the annual ETH Denver conference, which attracts tens of thousands of of ah attendees to discuss crypto and the Ethereum ecosystem. So it's something that Coloradans are very ah comfortable with um and have really been leading voices on. You know, what it's so important that we have this conversation because I don't think that people understand how forward leading that the state of Colorado has been, as you've mentioned, you know, accepting tax payments and crypto is amazing.
00:04:02
Speaker
and just I think getting people more comfortable with the use of cryptocurrency um for all of its use cases I think is really important. You know, we did see in Congress a move forward this year, which was very interesting. And that was really overwhelming support for digital asset legislation in Congress that passed, right, the 2021 bill. um And we should probably all remind people what that is. That is the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act.
00:04:34
Speaker
That pass it on a bipartisan basis, but it really is so critical that we continue to see that bipartisan approach in Congress to support blockchain technology and crypto assets, digital assets. But how do we do that? Because you tend to see in the last year or two really this political divide and we don't we don't need to see that. And I know you've worked hard on that. So tell us your thoughts.
00:04:59
Speaker
precisely, there is no reason for this to be a partisan issue for one of party to to lead over the other um in terms of regulation and um understanding cryptocurrency. um And that's really something that I saw from the very start of ah working on this bill, you know, um ah as ah as I started to to learn how to be a ah congressperson and approach legislation.
00:05:23
Speaker
um This was one of the big bills on the horizon. um And when I expressed interest to um even members of my own party um working on it, they said, this is a Republican bill. And so we're just going to be nose on it because it's a Republican bill.
00:05:37
Speaker
Well, that didn't seem like a good reason to me. um And none of the other reasons ah that were offered ah were were much better. And um and frankly, the the Republican Party, and in particular my ah chair on the subcommittee that I'm ranking member on, was very interested in making this a bipartisan bill and seeing how he could get Democrats on board. And a lot of that was around.
00:05:59
Speaker
ah customer and consumer protections. You don't see bipartisan work in Congress a whole lot um and so it's really important to take advantage of the topics on which there isn't a or shouldn't be a big divide and this is one of them.
00:06:14
Speaker
And that is critical. I really hope as our listeners focus on these issues that you're talking about is that they understand something very important. As you have said, this is not just a Republican issue in Congress. Democrats are supportive of technology and digital assets. And you know for many Democrats in Congress, too, you hit on an important point. And I know we have many issues to talk about around this bill and and your work on the Ag Committee. But I do want to pick up on your point of talking about financial literacy and consumer protection. Because for anyone who focuses, whether you're in Congress or you're a regulator or at the state or federal level, making sure that we when we are using or talking about new technologies that we help people understand how to use it and more importantly, how to be protected.
00:07:06
Speaker
So looking at your district specifically, which does include some of Colorado's fastest growing and most diverse communities, you've really been a champion on the need to find a regulatory regime that includes that proper financial literacy efforts. So let's talk just for a minute about that really that need for financial literacy. how How can we expand that more broadly? And from your constituents' perspective, where do you think they are in understanding some of this technology particularly? like the you know The other um interesting things about my district is that it's also the youngest district um in Colorado um with an average age in the lower 40s. And it's also the most Latino district um in the state. And so um I think both of those groups um are open to um to new technologies and new
00:07:55
Speaker
um ah conversations um in ah around finance, but there really does need to be a focus on financial literacy, like you said, really overall. ah we I worked on that um in the state house when we pastable to make sure that they're teaching financial literacy in high school. And then um around cryptocurrency, we really need to make sure that we are regulating, right? That is something that my party um ah is embraces, right? To make sure that we are ah protecting consumers from bad actors. And about 70% of cryptocurrency is unregulated um at this point. um And we are in the unusual position of having an industry that is asking to be regulated so that um they can see kind of get a clear roadmap of what um they have to do here in the United States to keep the United States
00:08:45
Speaker
at the forefront of this technology. The eighth district, I think, is a very good example of that, um a very good example of what the future of our economy um is and what people are interested in participating in um and why we need to continue to talk about these issues. It's such a wonderful district that you have. I, you know, understanding it is the youngest district um in all of qta Colorado is is really a testimony, I think, to all that the state has done.
00:09:15
Speaker
Right. You have more people who are moving into Colorado and who love it. um And when we when we think about some of the different constituencies that you've talked about and we think but to the debates in Congress to we talk about the need ah really to to focus on underserved populations. Right. How can cryptocurrency and digital assets really provide maybe underserved populations with greater access to financial markets in a way that traditional financial instruments or or just traditional financial markets aren't helping them right now. Absolutely. you know the um As ah part of the Latino community, I hear often about individuals who are unbanked whether ah because they cannot open um
00:09:57
Speaker
ah bank accounts and participate um in in that um area because of their legal status or they just don't trust ah the system, right? Either because of the countries that they've come from or because of the difficulties ah that they've seen here. It's also a community that relies heavily on remittance. um Back home, you know, I saw that ah all the time when I was little and we would go to the Wells Fargo and my mom would have to ah figure out exactly which place um in Mexico she was sending money to. That's something that cryptocurrency can really help with. um It will lower the fees. It will make sure that money is um being sent faster to your loved ones in another country. um And it is going to be of utmost importance um in addition to really providing a way for people to ah invest um and grow their money when maybe they don't quite understand ways to do that via the stock market or other things where they don't trust those systems. I think that's a really important
00:10:56
Speaker
point because having trust in just the basic systems is really important in general. and you know you you I love your statistic that you just mentioned earlier, which was 70% of digital assets are currently unregulated. and To your point, industry really did step forward and and strongly believes that there does need to be a regulatory structure established. Having both clear rules of the road are good for companies. They understand you know what the structures are.
00:11:26
Speaker
We've also talked about the fact that there are some existing laws in the books that can be flexed to accommodate for digital assets. But the point of fit 21 was really to make clear.
00:11:36
Speaker
what the regulation should be for digital assets, you know both for commodities and securities. So in your opinion overall, how do you think 2021, or hopefully other legislation, we'll talk about that in a few minutes, could help address those perceived gaps in regulations and governance issues? And certainly this has been a ah challenge for some time, but particularly after FTX, I think you know putting those guardrails in place, but but promoting more confidence in digital assets and cryptocurrency is important. so
00:12:10
Speaker
What do you think that looks like then for fixing those gaps? It's exactly what you said. It establishes the rules of the road because right now there really aren't any. I've talked to many innovators um in crypto who um say, you know people are always telling me to go overseas or I'm getting offers from overseas and the United States is really losing its foothold um on this industry because we are not regulating it and because so many people are just kind of afraid or uncomfortable to talk about the subject. um What FIT21 does is it really looks at the difference between this, um ah between cryptocurrency um and other assets um and says, you know, these are really can act like commodities. um And so maybe the SEC is not the best place to
00:12:56
Speaker
um to regulate these at. um It looks at the um CFTC, which is the Commodity Futures Trading um ah Commission, which is interestingly under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture um Committee, which is ah really surprises people ah most of the time.
00:13:13
Speaker
um ah not something that you expect the Agriculture Committee to to be talking about, um but I think is a great place for um regulation here to take shape um in a new industry, at least in terms of regulation, so that we can provide that regulation um under American values um so that we can continue to be leaders in the field um and really just give people certainty.
00:13:40
Speaker
That's absolutely right. And i I think when people talk about this debate regulatory structure and kind of looking for the gaps, we we talk about the competitiveness issue and you've already touched on that, right? We do want the United States to remain the leader on all things technology. And we're seeing other countries around the world creating very different rules of the road or creating their own um bespoke blockchains, right? We're seeing what China is doing and we we need we need to be able to move forward on that. And there are two ways to do that. FIT21 obviously is a huge step forward, but we do currently have work by the federal government um who who hopefully is partnering with Congress to really better promote policies to encourage the domestic investment in these technologies.
00:14:29
Speaker
So what do you think the federal government could do better right now or or maybe streamline their approach? Because certainly the Biden-Harris administration has been working on that with Treasury, CFTC, and you you did mention the SEC.
00:14:44
Speaker
which you know industry has had some challenges. so right right ah you know I think the the big issue ah with that the federal government has in in many areas of policy is um the ability to be nimble. right um It is not something that the government um does well, ah but we're seeing this around ah AI and certainly around cryptocurrency, the ability for um for agencies and individuals and legislators to learn about new technology, um to be forward thinking in terms of what the regulation needs to be, um and to really listen to to industry because that's where the expertise is. That's something that we have to do better overall um in the federal government.
00:15:24
Speaker
um I think that FIT21 addresses um many of those issues, um and hopefully we're going to be getting a version in the Senate, especially after Leader Schumer expressed his his support of cryptocurrency ah last week, which was really a big deal, as Wiley-Nichol said, ah and um and hopefully that gives more energy to um to many members to make sure that they're learning about this issue and that we're giving agencies at the ability to to regulate and learn. Absolutely. and And when we talked about really the excitement and enthusiasm after hearing and seeing some of majority leader Schumer's comments, I mean, there was a huge uptick in excitement about that. um What do you think
00:16:12
Speaker
could be done in the Senate overall. and And I'll break this into two parts. We certainly have fit 21, which is sort of the mothership at the moment of you that combined approach to regulate the SEC, CFTC world. But we know that the Senate Ag Committee is working on something. We know Senate banking has a very different perspective on some of these issues. Just any thoughts about what you think might happen in the Senate?
00:16:41
Speaker
you could focus on Senate Ag, or maybe we do have a new day with Majority Leader Schumer's comments. Yes, with ah majority the Majority Leader's support, I'd be interested to see what the Banking Committee does ah going forward. But the Senate Agriculture Committee, I know, has been looking at this issue for quite some time, and Senator Stabenow has been very interested in leading um on this issue as well. um You know, what will be in their jurisdiction will also be the CFTC, just like it is in the ah um the committee and subcommittee that I'm on, um and really what oversight they can provide um to make sure that we are regulating what is currently unregulated. But I think that
00:17:24
Speaker
ah Mr. Schumer's comments give new energy to this. We've been anxiously awaiting that um at the House level since we passed the 21 through the floor with 71 Democrats joining um all Republicans on voting on this bill, including Nancy Pelosi. And so I think that the work that the industry has done around this the work the responsible actors have done around it and the work that ah several of us ah members who have become interested in this arena um is has been very helpful to to open the Senate's eyes and say, this is an area that we need to to play in as Democrats. That is so important. And and is as we think about um maybe for our last question, you've been so generous with your time today. Let's crystal ball a little bit. That's always fun.
00:18:16
Speaker
um When we know that we only have a few months left to this Congress, we have that on one hand. we We're seeing this great focus by the majority leaders. We've just talked about majority Leah Schumer. But we're seeing these issues now in the national state. And as we look to November, the fact that ah issues around cryptocurrency and digital assets are making it into the presidential campaign, I just find fascinating.
00:18:43
Speaker
We do have you know the end of the Biden-Harris administration where there is great ability to get things done quickly. And as we look forward potentially to a new administration, which it could be a new Democratic administration as as we are seeing this week, the excitement in Chicago. But if if former president Trump is elected, there are a lot of moving parts.
00:19:09
Speaker
so Since I gave you so many different ways to answer that question, you can pick. um But you know just your thoughts, because now these are national level issues politically, as much as we've been dealing with these very substantive and hard legal and regulatory issues within the agencies and Congress.
00:19:27
Speaker
ah You know, absolutely. I think this is, um I mean, we're in a a place right now as a Democratic ah party where we are very excited ah for a new generation um of leadership. And um hopefully that is something that um that motivates young and tech savvy voters to participate in the elections coming up in November and make sure that we are electing an administration that is forward-looking um and and not trying to take us backwards. um I think that ah There is a chance that a fit 21 or a version of it gets through the Senate Agriculture Committee um in this lame duck ah time um before before any new administration um ah takes over next time.
00:20:13
Speaker
um But that will remain to be seen, right? It's ah a Congress um that has sadly not gotten a lot of accomplished. ah But those of us who have worked closely on Fit 21 would be very excited to see if this is the biggest you know piece of legislation, bipartisan legislation ah that passes in the 118th. Well, I think we have ah an exciting future ahead of us, whether the future is in the next month, the next few months, but certainly between now and the end of the year.
00:20:40
Speaker
and going forward in Congresswoman Caraveo. I am so excited to see you leading that effort in the House and for Coloradans in general. And I know that we have a lot more work to do. Industry is very focused on partnering with Congress to to showcase different examples for blockchain usage. And i I know we're hitting the end of our time. So maybe we'll think about ah another podcast where we can talk about different uses for blockchain technology.
00:21:09
Speaker
because I think as people maybe understand um when you use blockchain technology for things like supply chain security or um providence of different items or even healthcare vaccine tracking um as a doctor, I'd love to hear your views on that in the future. I would love to come on and talk more about that. I think um in particular, the ways that it can be applied to healthcare where I think we're probably the only ah sector that still uses fax machines.
00:21:37
Speaker
um There is a whole lot of innovation that can happen there and this is an exciting time with blockchain um and with cryptocurrency. It's very rare that we get to legislate over something completely new. That's exactly the opportunity that we have here um and we need to make sure that it happens in the right way.
00:21:55
Speaker
Excellent. Well, thank you so much really again for all that you're doing and for your vision. ah We will take you up on that opportunity to talk about more issues for blockchain and healthcare care in the future. But many thanks to you for your time today and I hope the listeners and enjoy this as much as I did.
00:22:16
Speaker
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