Although some industry leaders remain optimistic that the United States would pass legislation to handle cryptocurrency properly, an advisory to the Crypto Council for Innovation warns that it will take “a lot of work.”
Sean Lee, advisor to the Crypto Council for Innovation and co-founder of Odsy Network, told Cointelegraph on March 29 at the World of Web3 (WOW) Summit in Hong Kong that fair treatment of the crypto business is conceivable in the United States. He stated that financial reform was addressed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, and there is no reason why the same cannot be applied to cryptocurrency.
“That is doable, but it will require a lot of work […] and implementation normally comes after a huge crisis, which we are currently experiencing.” The remarks follow a significant crypto crackdown by US financial regulators, which some industry observers have dubbed a “war on crypto.”
The FTX crisis in November appears to have provided regulators and anti-crypto lawmakers with plenty ammunition to slam the embryonic crypto industry. However, Lee clarified that FTX is not crypto, but rather a centralized trading platform, adding:
“We’ve seen many times in history what can go wrong if you don’t properly regulate centralized entities.” He stated that a lot of education was required, which is what organizations like the Crypto Council for Innovation are attempting to accomplish.
The Council is attempting to engage in communication with legislators in order to “help them also grasp what other jurisdictions are thinking about,” he added.
The support can be provided to “help develop more progressive policies” that will allow both communities and businesses to better grasp the landscape.
In a comment on the recent CFTC Binance case, Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, echoed similar reasons, noting that it “hopefully means the end of people coming into the crypto industry trying to take advantage of the lack of regulatory certainty in the United States.”
She also called the CFTC’s designation of certain cryptocurrencies as commodities “a tremendous shot across the bow of the SEC.” In a related development, SEC head Gary Gensler requested a higher budget this week to address what he called the “Wild West” of crypto marketplaces. As a result, Uncle Sam’s battle on cryptocurrency is unlikely to end anytime soon.
