The crypto-market is outperforming its projections this week. However, on the regulatory side, the industry has found a lot to contend with.
With the industry getting more mature as the months go by and companies are now recognizing, accepting, and adopting the market, regulators, specifically those in the United States, are gunning to expand their control on the shapeless sector.
The FinCEN‘s proposed rules that will mandate stricter KYC processes for fund transfers from a centralized exchange to a personal wallet are an effort in doing the same. Sensibly, these proposals have drawn a vehement response from many community users since they came on the back of the regulatory efforts to regulate the market.
While most believe these proposals are the frantic efforts taken by an outgoing administration, there may be more than what meets the eye. This was the view of Galaxy Digital‘s Mike Novogratz in a recent interview.
He said, “….they (proposed regulations) are not actually designed to go after Bitcoin and Ethereum per se. They are designed for the companies that traffic in them. And those are mostly companies in retail.”
This is a captivating perspective, notably since many have been fast to jump on the “U.S. Government is going after cryptocurrencies” bandwagon.
A good argument can be made for the other perspective, mostly since the outgoing administration led by Mnuchin and Trump has been anti-Bitcoin for a long time. The rules proposed by the FinCEN are a perfect example of the same since, as Novogratz pointed out, the proposals haven’t exactly had a 60-day comment period. Additionally, with Trump and Mnuchin stepping out, a new administration led by a new President and a new Treasury Secretary may feel differently.
Novogratz argued that specific rules only differ from stifling innovation, with the same thing having the potential to push business offshore while giving a recognizable advantage to countries like China.
He also commented on Bitcoin’s bull market’s nature, admiring its performance when facing the American regulators’ obstacles. He said that MassMutual investing $100M in Bitcoin was a piece of big news, and it shows the fact that the adoption of Bitcoin institutional clients is not slowing down.
Novogratz concluded by commenting,
“Bitcoin, right now, is three percent of gold. I think it can easily be ten percent of gold so, that’s $60-$65,000. I don’t think that’s hard. I just see more participants coming into the market.”
Since Novogratz’s interview, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has breached more resistance levels on the charts. Ergo must have climbed even higher.
No Comment