Hester Peirce, Commissioner, USA’s Securities and Exchange Commission, while speaking at the Blockchain Conference at Washington, stated that is has become very clear that we are heading in the wrong direction as far as crypto-currency is concerned. Rather than implementing laws first, we should focus on abolishing regulations.
The conference which was held in May, focused on the fact that crypto has fastened its attempts at entering the lanes of American power. Founder and CEO, Chamber of Digital Commerce, a trade association of blockchain companies, Perianne Boring, has stated that we are surely moving forward. The crypto-industry worth almost Rs 250 lakh crores has taken many steps towards getting into Washington’s government circles.
It has been 10 years that bitcoins have come out, but crypto has still not received the required authorization from the government. Till now, the government and the industry have stayed at a distance from each other, and the government has focused on legal procedures, tax proposals, and rules being followed. On the other hand, crypto has augmented its activities through trade associations, think tanks, lobbying agencies, and political action committees which offer electoral donations.
The government and the crypto-industry are at loggerheads on many issues. One of the moot points being whether crypto and other related shares should be categorized as securities and investments just like other commodities like bonds, oil or lentils. The question which also arises in whether crypto should be controlled by the Securities and Exchange Commission or its smaller subsidiary, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Both the agencies have tried to get laws imposed on crypto companies without issuing official guidelines.
Gary Gensler, Chairperson, Securities and Exchange Commission, has initiated lawsuits against crypto companies for not following the securities laws, while the companies have filed counter-lawsuits against the agency. The supporters of the crypto-industry have stated that confusions related to regulations will not only hurt consumers but also the crypto sector. The industry is of the opinion that USA’s crypto-companies want to follow the rules, but the behaviour of the regulators have made them go bankrupt or have pushed them to the margin.
Boring has further said that it should be clarified as to which digital asset are securities and which are not. On the other hand, the government has started paying attention towards the industry.
