Banning Bitcoin Is Like Shutting Down Internet — Government Would Be ‘Foolish’ to Try – Regulation Bitcoin News

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce compares banning bitcoin to shutting down the web, stating that governments could be silly to strive. She additionally gives some insights into whether or not the SEC will approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) this yr.

Governments Would Be Foolish to Try to Ban Bitcoin

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce shared her view of governments banning bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation in an interview at Marketwatch’s Investing in Crypto occasion final week. She was additionally requested in regards to the probability of the securities regulator approving bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this yr.

Peirce, generally often called “crypto mother,” has been pushing for the SEC to approve a bitcoin ETF for a number of years. She was requested through the interview whether or not banning cryptocurrencies is a chance since some individuals nonetheless imagine that governments can at all times ban bitcoin, together with Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, The Big Short’s Michael Burry, and Ron Paul. The commissioner replied:

I feel we have been previous that time very early on since you would have to shut down the web. As I’ve mentioned up to now, I don’t see how you might ban it … I feel that it might be a silly factor for the federal government to strive to try this.

She identified nonetheless that governments “might definitely take some time” to ban bitcoin or different cryptocurrencies. She defined that “A authorities might say it’s not allowed right here however individuals would nonetheless give you the chance to do it and it might be very onerous to cease individuals from doing it.”

However, the commissioner confused that there’s “A much bigger downside” in banning cryptocurrency, which “is that we might be lacking out on the innovation round bitcoin and different digital belongings if we determined to strive to cease them.”

Will the SEC Approve Bitcoin ETFs This Year?

Commissioner Peirce was additionally requested if this yr is the yr the SEC will approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) as many traders predict. “That is the large query that everybody has,” she replied, including that her reply is identical one which she’s had for the final three years, “which is I don’t know.”

She famous that the SEC is in a interval of transition with a brand new chairman, Gary Gensler, doubtless to be confirmed within the subsequent couple of weeks and sure to begin shortly thereafter. “That will make a giant distinction on this query of whether or not and when an exchange-traded product will get authorized,” the commissioner opined.

As for the bitcoin market, Peirce detailed:

In the three years that I’ve been on the fee, the market has matured tremendously. We are seeing a whole lot of institutional curiosity out there. We are seeing type of quasi exchange-traded merchandise in it.

Peirce then identified that Canada has already approved some bitcoin ETFs. “You are seeing rather more institutional involvement within the underlying market,” she famous, including that these are “the kind of issues which may make us comfy by way of how that underlying market works.”

The commissioner emphasised: “The bitcoin market isn’t gonna appear like an fairness market, for instance, so I feel attempting to impose that form of a construction on the underlying market is inappropriate. That was what was hinted at in a few of these prior disapprovals.”

Commenting on how different nations could also be forward of the U.S. by way of innovation, Peirce mentioned:

I feel we’re definitely behind the curve. We have seen different nations take a way more, I might say, productive method to regulating crypto within the sense that it’s not saying we shouldn’t have any rules in any respect, they’ve simply been saying let’s construct a regulatory framework that works for crypto.

“Our method has been rather more of a ‘say no and inform individuals to wait’ method,” she described. “So I feel we actually want to flip it round, be keen to work, to construct a framework that’s acceptable for this trade. I’m optimistic that with the brand new chairman coming in, who has deep data of those markets, the crypto markets, that’s one thing that we might do collectively, to construct an excellent regulatory framework.”

Do you agree with SEC Commissioner Peirce that governments could be silly to strive to ban bitcoin? Let us know within the feedback part beneath.

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