WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) joined Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) in launching the U.S. Senate Financial Innovation Caucus today along with Senators John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Tim Scott (R-SC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Mike Braun (R-IN). The Caucus will highlight responsible innovation in the United States financial system, and how financial technologies can make financial markets more inclusive, safe, and prosperous for all Americans.
The Caucus will serve as a nexus within the U.S. Senate to discuss domestic and global issues related to financial technology, ultimately providing a natural launch-point for legislation to empower innovators, protect consumers, and guide regulators, while driving U.S. financial leadership on the international stage.
The Caucus will focus on a number of issues critical to the future of banking and ensuring U.S. competitiveness on the global stage, including:
- Responsible financial innovation
- Distributed ledger technology (blockchain)
- Digital assets
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Data management
- Consumer protection
- Combatting money laundering
- Faster payments
- Central bank digital currencies
- Promoting financial inclusion and opportunity for all
The Caucus is timely for a number of reasons, including growing regulatory focus on digital assets from U.S. federal agencies like the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as efforts already underway by foreign governments to create digital currencies. China, in particular, has already launched a digital yuan in certain cities, with the hope that ultimately it will increase China’s influence in international finance.
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