CHINA has banned crypto, and now the US wants to regulate it.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Gary Gensler has made not so subtle hints that unregulated crypto may “hurt” people, while the US Secretary of Treasury, Janet Yellen, has called it “inefficient.”
Both these comments are designed to send the message that US is planning or would like to regulate cryptocurrencies, including Smart Contracts which, to my knowledge, are designed to be impossible to regulate.
I find it interesting that two of the largest economies in the world have decided to ban/regulate cryptocurrencies, while smaller countries seem to be embracing it. In that sense, there seems to be commonality between China and the US with regard to crypto. Both consider it a tool for money laundering. They also see it as a way for certain groups to fund terrorists and naughty non-state entities.
And, of course, there are people in traditional finance who may be a little angry at having some of their power and status disrupted by crypto-holders.
But focusing on the US for a moment, their attempts to regulate crypto is sure to bring detractors and a resistance of sorts. There are generally two types of people when it comes to cryptocurrecy regulation.
First are those who believe crypto as just another piece of technology, one that should be integrated with the larger financial system. This group will likely welcome regulation if it is beneficial to crypto users.
And then there are those who own crypto for political and ideological reasons. These are the people who use crypto precisely because it is not regulated, and would oppose any attempts at such.
If the US does regulate crypto, this faction will likely set up their own system, one that is presumably parallel and perhaps opposed to the regulated crypto system proposed by the likes of Yellen and Gensler./PN
