I personally see this hearing as the starting points for a major discourse amongst the policy maker not only in US but all over the world.
In Malaysia, our Central Banks takes a neutral stand and say that the market should decide the fate of cryptocurrency but their full stand on that matter would be not disclosed until the end of this month in their paper work (until now they would not ban it, but also would not consider it as legal tender.. but as of now, ICO is still a no go here.. meaning they have enormous tapes and fences of legal n policy that one must pass.)
http://telegra.ph/BNM-Kertas-Konsep-Mengenai-Mata-Wang-Digital-Akan-Dimuktamadkan-Bulan-Ini-02-12
In Malaysia due to the reason of not having any cryptocurrency exchange based here, (like Bitrrex based in US), we dont have the discussion like what is happening in US..
I do hope more constructive discussion can be made.. I do see a trend nowadays that many ICO n alts coins are doing airdrop, dividend like n thus under SEC definition is categorized under Security.. I am really interested to follow up the on going discussion regarding this, as whatever SEC decide might well be used as a case study and implement in various countries thus having huge ripple accross the globe.