Are looming regulations putting an end to bitcoin's 'Wild West' days?
Episode 44 of Season 3 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Aislinn Keely, Editor of Wonk Talk & Kollen Post, Senior Politics Report at The Block.
This is the first edition of The Scoop’s policy focused series, Policy Scoop.
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Signs point to the looming specter of regulation slowly bringing the days of bitcoin and crypto's "Wild West" to an end. The only question, perhaps, is if not now, then when?
"We’re getting to a boiling point," The Block's Aislinn Keely told The Scoop.
On this policy report episode of The Scoop, host Frank Chaparro is joined by The Block’s policy and regulatory reporters — Editor of Wonk Talk Aislinn Keely and Senior Politics Reporter Kollen Post — for an update on where the United States currently sits on the digital asset policy front.
Post and Keely touched on how regulators will be tackling exchanges first. "It’s not necessarily that we’re waiting for exchange regulation, but the way crypto will be regulated is going to be related to on/off ramps and that happens to be centralized exchanges right now," Keely told The Scoop.
Keely and Post also covered what a Gensler-led SEC looks like, citing Elizabeth Warren’s letter to the SEC questioning how the US plans to regulate exchanges.
Keely and Post noted the potentially risky domino effect of agency mandates on policies such as those that targeted crypto startup BlockFi, particularly in instances for which crypto products mimic savings accounts and securities and don’t have the provision of FDIC backing.
Post noted that if the NY investigation of Tether becomes a federal case, it could change the narrative of the White House’s coverage of digital assets in terms of how much cash the Senate wants to monitor the ecosystem. As of this podcast’s publication, The Block received new details stating that an upcoming infrastructure bill in the U.S. Senate will in fact be partially paid for by enhanced tax enforcement of cryptocurrency.
Keely also clarified where the US currently stands on Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC. Keely said that the US is still on the perceived “losing side” relative to countries like China, which is in the process of developing a digitized version of the yuan. The US government has not made any final decisions on whether it will issue a digital dollar.
This podcast also covers:
- The status of bitcoin ETF’s
- The ransomware update in crypto
- Facebook’s Diem and Libra coins
- New of FATF international regulation of crypto exchanges
- The US’s losing role in creating a Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC
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