The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an initiative called “Strategic Center for Innovation and Financial Technology” (FinHub), which will have its primary objective to advise new ventures that use crypto and blockchain technology, digital financing, or artificial intelligence.
Commissioner Hester Peirce confirmed October 18.
FINHUB ‘HERE FOR FINTECH’
The platform, known as FinHub, brings together multiple aspects of US regulation with the aim of guiding the nascent financial technology industry as it grows.
Both the SEC and fellow regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) continue to be active in their input in sectors such as cryptocurrency, ICOs and Blockchain actors as pertains to activities under their jurisdiction.
In an interview earlier this month, CFTC chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo produced encouraging forecasts about cryptocurrency’s future role in society, spelling out the differences in regulatory approach between the two agencies.
BEYOND CRYPTO, BLOCKCHAIN
FinHub meanwhile sees its rubric governing structures throughout the space.
Major areas highlighted on a new webpage include Blockchain and so-called distributed ledger technology (DLT), digital marketplace financing, automated investment advice, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
“As financial technologies, methods of capital formation, market structures, and investor interfaces continue to evolve, FinHub will play an important role in facilitating the SEC’s active engagement with innovators, developers, and entrepreneurs,” the SEC explains in an introduction to the platform.
In addition to being a resource for information about the SEC’s views and actions in the FinTech space, FinHub is also a forum for engaging with SEC staff.
Peirce meanwhile had already become well-known in cryptocurrency circles after a passionate defense of the Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) application which the SEC rejected in July.
“Apparently, bitcoin is not ripe enough, respectable enough, or regulated enough to be worthy of our markets. I dissent,” she wrote following the rejection.
The final deadline for the highly-anticipated SolidX/VanEck ETF application is expected in Q1 2019.
What do you think about FinHub? Let us know in the comments below!
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