The U.S. Is Making A Big Mistake By Refusing To Engage With Crypto Leaders

The U.S. is making some serious mistakes with its crypto policymaking, or lack thereof. You’ve probably seen the slew of frivolous lawsuits, or threats of lawsuits, being rolled out against Coinbase and Binance. And then you have the $XRP Army in the background like what’s new? The U.S. also recently shut down Signature Bank which was very crypto-friendly. The war against crypto was deemed Operation Chokepoint 2.0 – a fitting name because that’s exactly what they’re doing – choking the crypto industry in an attempt to kill it.

But they won’t succeed. “They” are old and outdated. This new world moves too fast for them. Yes, they have power – but we are energetic and believe in the better way forward. They are lost, scared, and bewildered by technology that’s ready to benefit billions of people in the very near future.

And now you have some very serious people taking notice of the abysmal U.S. response to crypto. One person in particular recently distributed a statement to various members of the press. Her name is Sheila Warren, the CEO of The Crypto Council For Innovation. One look at her bio and you can see she is obviously well connected and means business.

The Statement

Here is the full statement from Sheila Warren:

“Some in the US see the crypto industry as a bunch of whiners trying to take advantage of regulatory loopholes. I challenge anyone with that view to read this post and come away clinging to that impression.

What’s true is that a reprehensible amount of resources and brainpower have been spent in the US trying to engage with this SEC and trying to create substance and a path out of the wraithlike comments issued by the agency.

Meanwhile, most other major economies are actively in productive consultation with experts about how to land the regulatory plane. The EU has its landmark MiCA regulation, Japan is getting ready to issue further guidance, the UK is making moves to be a crypto hub, and Hong Kong is doing the same.

Are we really going to allow one agency in the US to set the entire trajectory of an innovation for the entire country, especially if that agency refuses to engage with the industry it is trying to regulate?”

-Sheila Warren

Problematic No Matter How You Analyze It

Obviously, Sheila is correct in her statement. Coinbase had dozens of meetings with the SEC and has continually asked for regulatory clarity over the years. The debate regarding whether or not prominent crypto tokens are securities or commodities has also been going on for years, with zero progress to show for it. In fact, the CFTC recently stated that Binance was improperly trading commodity tokens while the SEC said Coinbase was improperly using tokens as securities. They can’t even get their stories straight. It’s almost kind of embarrassing and sad to watch. Their egos and need for control are clouding their judgment so badly that now it’s detrimental to Americans.

As Sheila said, other large and powerful countries are already developing reasonable crypto policies. Now is the time for America, and the entire world, to embrace blockchain technology, Bitcoin, and Decentralized Finance. Why would any country purposely distance itself from technology that’s driving the future of finance? It doesn’t even make sense. 

To the U.S. government: Please wake up. Please snap out of it. Please do the right thing. Please stop being so selfish. This is your chance to be the hero by serving instead of controlling. You can turn things around, all you have to do is let go of the control and return power to the people.