Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Cryptocurrency - TPR's In Focus - March 17, 2026

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Cryptocurrency - TPR's In Focus - March 17, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's Dothan Campus,
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  identifying and preserving historical documents and photographs for research related to the
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  Wiregrass region. More information at troy.edu slash wiregrass archives.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is the Exchange from InFocus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Amanda Senn, Director of the Alabama Securities Commission,
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  discusses proposals before the Alabama legislature, especially about different forms of
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  cryptocurrency. Amanda Senn, welcome back to the Exchange here at InFocus on Troy Public Radio
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  from the Alabama Securities Commission. Thank you, Carolyn. Always a pleasure to be with you.
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  One thing we do from time to time, Amanda, is discuss upcoming legislation. The Alabama
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  Securities Commission is always looking out for consumers and investors. Do you have anything
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  coming up? We have several bills this session, Carolyn. A few of them were initiated by the
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  real estate associations, Realtors in Alabama, and they brought a bill that involved title fraud
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  and included us as investigators and prosecutors in frauds that involve the title to your property.
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  Other bills that we have worked on almost exclusively involve cryptocurrency, which I
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  know you and I have discussed these past few years, and so two of those bills are moving
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  through the legislature right now, so we're looking forward to watching both of them,
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  but stablecoin is probably on the top of the list right now. You mentioned the word stablecoin. What
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  is that? We'll have the stablecoin issuer license bill that'll be moving through the House hopefully
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  in the next two weeks. We've also introduced an investor recovery fund bill. I say we,
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  the legislature. We've been working with the legislature on these initiatives,
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  and we're excited about this one, of course, because it would provide victims of securities
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  and investment fraud some restitution as a result of their losses. I know you and I have
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  talked about when victims of crime lose all their money because many of these criminals are overseas
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  or the money is gone and their accounts are completely depleted, and so we hope that by
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  bringing this legislation, we'll be able to help compensate victims for some of those losses,
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  but stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that is more stable. The stability, though,
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  comes from the fact that this particular cryptocurrency is pegged to the dollar,
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  and so the stablecoin bill that we have been working on would require stablecoins to be backed
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  by very liquid, safe assets, including U.S. dollars. I know we talked about cryptocurrencies
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  before, but unlike other cryptocurrencies, which aren't backed by anything except possibly what
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  somebody's willing to pay for it if redeemed, stablecoins could be converted dollar for dollar
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  into cash when the individual cashes out, and at the point of redemption, the consumers will
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  be able to cash it out or redeem it for a dollar per stablecoin. I know that's probably something
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  that most of the listeners are thinking, what is this esoteric, weird, you know, sort of computer
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  currency, but it's becoming more mainstream now, and many of our money transmitters, which I know
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  listeners probably have used PayPal, Cash App, Venmo, are looking to offer stablecoins
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  in addition to their other services. So how can listeners learn more about this area of
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  cryptocurrency? Does the ASC have on its website any educational information? We have information
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  about cryptocurrencies, and I'll be sure that we update it to include a primer. We've prepared
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  actually a one-page summary of cryptocurrencies for the public, so I'll be sure that we get that
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  posted pretty quickly, and I'll let you know so you can push it out to your listeners, but you can
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  Google the term cryptocurrency, and it'll pull up tons of articles about it and generally summarize.
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  It's essentially a computer sort of generated entry that is connected to the blockchain, and so the
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  blockchain is the underlying ledger that provides for those transactions, and it allows users to
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  have those transactions authenticated. So you think of it like a digital ledger. The blockchain
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  is a digital ledger, and that's how cryptocurrency is transacted. So back to this stablecoin bill,
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  how would that benefit Alabama? Many Alabamians and businesses have asked to be able to utilize
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  stablecoins. The difference between a stablecoin transaction and a transaction at a bank or a
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  credit union is that payments on the blockchain can be transacted 24 hours a day, seven days a
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  week. Unlike banks or credit unions, there are sometimes delays, and I'm not saying that that's
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  a bad thing. There are certainly times where you want your financial institution to have those
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  delays in place, especially as it relates to fraud, but Congress last summer passed a law that created
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  a licensing system for stablecoins. So companies can begin getting licensed under the congressional
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  bill. It's called the Genius Act, and under that bill, it allows states to also offer a license in
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  case they wanted to opt for a state license, and so in Alabama, we thought if Alabama offers a license,
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  then maybe we could attract businesses. They would pay us for a license. We would provide the oversight
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  and the proper foundation to get companies operating safely and responsibly in Alabama for
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  our Alabama consumers and investors. On another subject, last week I did an interview about the
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  escalating gasoline prices that we are seeing as a result of this Mideast War. Does the Alabama
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  Securities Commission track things like oil and gas scams? Are they out there right now?
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  We absolutely track them. The prices are surging, and in every fraud case, there is a backdrop,
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  and most of the time, the fraudsters rip their frauds from the latest headlines.
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  There will be scams that involve alternate forms of energy, fuels, different investment opportunities
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  to frack oil. So expect that within the next few weeks. I can guarantee you we'll start receiving
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  complaints. Just give it time, Carolyn. They will come in, unfortunately. Do you want to send a
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  message to the would-be fraudsters who try to do this in Alabama? We say stay out of Alabama or we
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  will prosecute you to the fullest extent, but we'll not only prosecute you, we'll chase you down to be
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  sure that we can prosecute you. So stay out of Alabama. And then publicize it. That's right.
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  We believe that shame is one of the more effective methods to prevent further frauds. So we will shame
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  you. That's right. Well, Amanda, I take it the listeners can find out a lot more information on
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  your ASC.alabama.gov website, and you do have a toll-free number if people need to get in touch
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  immediately. Can you give us that number? Yes, of course, and we encourage that. Please do. That's
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  why we are here. You can call us during business hours at 1-800-222-1253. That's 1-800-222-1253,
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  and we actually have live people answering the phone. So if you have questions about an investment
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  or to talk to someone about this type of investment, or whether my professional is licensed,
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  or somebody called me about an oil and gas investment, or you want to talk about cryptocurrency,
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  give us a call. 1-800 number, certainly, or go to the website, and we have additional contact
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  information there as well. Amanda, thank you so much for your time and advice today. Thank you,
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  Carolyn. Always enjoy talking with you. That was Amanda Senn, Director of the Alabama
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  Securities Commission, joining us for the exchange. More information can be found at the
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  ASC.alabama.gov website and at the toll-free number 1-800-222-1253. Thanks for joining us for
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  In Focus, which is a podcast on NPR One or wherever you get your podcasts.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported Troy Public Radio.