The cryptocurrency industry has long been asking Washington for more regulatory clarity.
This week could finally put the sector on the road to that goal, as U.S. lawmakers begin considering landmark legislation that would govern the digital tokens.
“Obviously we’ve had some important decisions come from the courts in the past, but this is by far the most significant legislative moment that we’ve had,” Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, told Reuters Wednesday (July 26).
Smith’s comments come as the House Financial Services Committee prepares to discuss a bill that would delineate when a cryptocurrency is a commodity or security. A second bill would provide regulations for stablecoins.
The legislation is scheduled to go before the financial services committee Wednesday, with the House Agriculture Committee taking up the matter Thursday (July 27).
As Reuters notes, this debate — putting the bills on the path to consideration by the full House — marks the first time such crypto regulations will be voted on by Congress.
The bills were advanced by House Republicans, but it’s not clear how much support they have on the other side of the aisle. The bills could also face pushback by the Democrat-controlled Senate, with Sen. Sherrod Brown, head of the Senate Banking Committee, having indicated he isn’t sure if the industry needs additional regulation.
“For anything to be sticky, it’s going to need some bipartisan backing,” Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the DeFi Education Fund, said in a Reuters interview.
Meanwhile, the ongoing uncertainty around the crypto industry continues to shake up the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, as PYMNTS wrote earlier this week.
Trading volumes on DeFi platforms have fallen by more than three-quarters since January of last year, and volumes on centralized exchanges aren’t performing much better, declining nearly 69% in the same period.
“That’s because the crypto sector is increasingly embattled, as a historical lack of regulatory clarity empowered bad actors who then tarnished the industry’s reputation among retail and institutional investors, as well as policymakers,” PYMNTS wrote.
And even after a landmark court ruling in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) case against Ripple, the outlook on Capitol Hill for crypto continues to shift as lawmakers seek to rein in what they view as a history of abuses.
“The digital asset space is muddled with regulatory uncertainty, lack of authority and a lacking framework for core operating principles,” Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, a Republican who sits on the agriculture committee, said recently.
Amazon will shut down its “Prime Try Before You Buy” service on Jan. 31, according to a notice on the company’s website.
The Information reported the ending of the service Friday (Jan. 10), saying Amazon launched the service in 2017, allowing Prime members to order clothing, try it on and decide whether to keep it before being charged for it.
CNBC reported Friday that the move is the latest example of Amazon’s efforts to reduce costs across the company.
After the service is wound down, Prime members will still be able to order clothing, make normal returns and receive a refund, according to the report from The Information.
An Amazon spokesperson told The Information that the company offers other features for clothes shoppers like personalized size recommendations, improved size charts and a virtual try-on tool.
Amazon touted its virtual try-on capabilities in a March blog post, saying the option is available for products from popular brands.
“Amazon’s Virtual Try-On feature brings the in-store experience to your mobile device by using augmented reality to help you visualize a new pair of sneakers or sunglasses yourself, as well as lip colors and eyeshadow in real time, wherever you are,” the post said.
Many clothing brands and retailers are turning to artificial intelligence to manage the costly problem of returns by helping consumers buy products they will actually want to keep when they arrive, PYMNTS reported in June.
A practice called “bracketing,” in which consumers buy items in multiple sizes or colors, intending to return some of them later, is reportedly one of the contributors to rising return rates. Happy Returns reports that nearly two-thirds of consumers engage in bracketing.
Increased return volumes pose logistical and financial challenges for retailers, Loop Returns CEO Hannah Bravo told PYMNTS in an interview posted Monday (Jan. 6).
“For online retailers, handling returns is far more complex than shipping orders,” Bravo said. “Each return must be manually unpacked, checked and restocked, requiring extra staff and warehouse space. This costly process has pushed retailers to seek new technologies that can both reduce returns and keep customers satisfied.”