Blockchain arms race risks being won by ‘adversarial nations’ — US crypto lobby group

A blockchain lobbying group backed by the likes of Goldman Sachs, Citi Group, Circle, and Fidelity has urged the United States Congress to pass a legal framework for digital assets or risk falling behind other nations.

On May 19, the U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce sent a call to action to Congress and the Senate to prioritize passing a national approach to crypto regulation.

The organization added that it requests that Congress organize a “Digital Asset and Blockchain Technology Solarium Commission” to develop a “national strategic approach to digital assets and blockchain technology” in the U.S.

There was a stark warning that failure to act would enable “adversarial nations” to further their activities in the space that “endanger U.S. leadership and dollar primacy.”

It mentioned China as an example of such adversarial action with the development of an internationally focused Blockchain-based Services Network (BSN) to “incorporate global development and trade and fill the U.S.-created vacuum.”

It also cited the growing number of countries considering or choosing to trade with China directly in yuan and ditching the U.S. dollar. These include Saudi Arabia, Russia, France, Brazil, and India, it wrote.

Today, the @DigitalChamber issued a call to action urging Congress to organize a Digital Asset and Blockchain Technology Solarium Commission to develop a national strategic approach to these technologies in the U.S.

Let’s ensure U.S. leadership in the #blockchain industry.

— Chamber of Digital Commerce (@DigitalChamber) May 18, 2023

On a similar note, the organization mentioned the potential BRICS digital currency and other developments regarding gold-backed digital currencies by Russia and Iran.

The brief concluded that regulatory and legal opacity in the U.S. is “hampering the nation’s ability to lead and take advantage of this innovation revolution,” adding:

“This abdication is severely hampering domestic development and ceding advantages to other nations at the expense of the U.S. innovator and investor.”

The name of the proposed commission references Project Solarium which was created in the wake of World War II and the dawning of the Cold War by President Eisenhower to counter the threat of Soviet expansion.

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission, created in 2019, was created to develop a strategic approach to defend against cyber attacks. The crypto…