It’s a “stretch” to expect US crypto regulation will come soon

• Dan Gallagher says it’s likely US crypto legislation is going to take some time to finalise
• His comments to CNBC come at a time when several cryptocurrency exchange executives are expected to head to Capitol Hill to meet lawmakers.

Robinhood’s chief legal officer Dan Gallagher says it’s unlikely new legislation targeted at the crypto industry in the US is coming out soon, adding that the conversation around the topic is more likely to take some time.

The Robinhood executive believes the Congressional hearing is more likely to be informative in nature and will largely be to the benefit of the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC).

In his view, it would be “a stretch” for one to expect that the market is set for crypto legislation that’s hovering somewhere on the horizon. This outlook is down to the current dynamics in Congress, Gallagher told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday.

Gallagher’s comments came on the day six executives from the crypto space headed to Congress for a hearing with the House Financial Services Committee.

According to Gallagher, the conversations involving the crypto exchange executives and the Congressional committee are “theoretically, existential to crypto.”  However, it should be assumed that lawmakers will actually “act and legislate.”

As well as commenting on what is likely to come out of Capitol Hill, Gallagher noted that crypto regulation has seen the sector have two camps of companies.

He noted that there are some that don’t fancy the regulatory route and are “running away” from it. On the other hand, he sees a camp where companies like Robinhood are already heavily regulated and are still supportive of positive regulation.

In his opinion, Gallagher wants to see the SEC and other regulatory agencies adopt rational legislation that will not work against crypto innovation. He hopes that any eventual crypto regulation in the US will protect investors but importantly not take away their right to choose.

Robinhood offers commission-free stock trading and its crypto offering includes Bitcoin (BTC) and  Ethereum (ETH).