December 8, 2023
As new and revolutionary technologies have improved the economy throughout our nation’s history, Washington has often greeted groundbreaking innovation with disdain if not outright derision.
Theodore Roosevelt, the first president to ride in an automobile, made no secret of his contempt for the invention, calling motor cars a “distinct addition to the discomfort of living.” When electricity was installed in the White House, President Benjamin Harrison was so fearful of being shocked he required his staff to turn the lights on and off for him.
This apprehension should come as no surprise, given that visionary thinking has never been the hallmark of our nation’s capital. Yet rarely does one see the level of deliberate hostility and incompetence directed toward a burgeoning technology that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has displayed by bungling all attempts to articulate a clear regulatory framework for digital assets and cryptocurrencies.
Crypto has grown from purchasing two pizzas in 2009 to a projected $32.4 trillion in global transactions by 2027. Many other nations have grasped its potential and enacted rules to foster its acceptance and growth. While over two dozen U.S. investment funds have applied to launch crypto spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) domestically, the U.S. still trails nations such as Singapore, Estonia, and Malta in establishing a coherent regulatory framework. That alone highlights how inept America’s leaders have been in governing this technology.
Instead of working with companies building products on blockchains, Gensler has tried to scapegoat them to expand his agency’s power, unilaterally dictating that nearly all digital tokens are somehow securities under his authority.
A breakthrough legal case involved Ripple Labs, which for years sought guidance from the SEC to confirm that the XRP token used for their payments software was not a security but a transactional currency. For years the agency shrugged its shoulders in response. In Dec. 2020, the agency pounced without warning, dragging Ripple into court, and charging them with illegally raising $1.3 billion in unregistered securities.
Read full article here:
