Does the US want to kill cryptocurrencies?
Perhaps.
Three years ago, most of the companies in the industry that Andrew Durgee’s firm invested in were based in the U.S.
He estimates just one in 10 are in the U.S. this year, reflecting what his firm sees as the country’s growing hostility to digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and tokens.
“The government is really targeting the industry. Regulatory uncertainty makes investing in the U.S. riskier,”
said Durgee, managing director of technology firm Republic’s cryptocurrency division. Other damage comes from the collapse of several high-profile cryptocurrency companies, which includes FTX, which is operated by the company. – Sam Bankman-Fried, known as the “King of Cryptocurrencies,” is accused by prosecutors of carrying out “one of the largest financial frauds” in U.S. history.
Shocked by the turmoil, U.S. regulators have stepped up oversight of the industry, with authorities saying they have been warning the industry since at least 2017 that its activities violated U.S. financial rules designed to protect investors.
The campaign has brought a steady stream of allegations against cryptocurrency companies and executives for violations, including failing to properly register with authorities and properly disclose their activities, as well as in some cases more damaging allegations such as improper handling consumer funds and fraud.
Bitcoin represents much of the value in an industry in which thousands of currencies circulate and is considered a commodity like gold by U.S. officials.
That means it’s largely untouched by the current regulatory debate that hinges on the legal question of what constitutes an investment, such as a stock or bond, regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (lSEC) as a “security.” its English abbreviation)
Instead, the focus has been on companies issuing tokens, or coins, to raise capital, and increasingly on exchanges that buy and sell such digital assets, which typically hold customer funds, execute trades, and engage with traditional financial institutions. unrelated other activities
The crackdown culminated in legal action this month against two of the largest platforms, Coinbase and Binance.
Binance is the billionaire Changpeng Zhao who founded the world’s largest cryptocurrency platform accused of creating a “deception network” in the US
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler defended the measures by comparing the state of the industry to the state of the industry in the 1920s in the United States before many of the rules discussed today were created: “Charlatans, charlatans, fraud artists, Ponzi schemes, the public lining up in bankruptcy court.â€
Market sentiment has deteriorated significantly since 2021, when the industry was worth more than $3 trillion by some estimates and appears poised to grow further, said Will Paige, research analyst at Insider Intelligence.
“He’s back on the fringes of finance,” he said. “Confidence in the system has been damaged, and it’s bound to get worse.”
Bank of America Restricts Trading with Binance, Forces It to Stop Accepting USD, Customers Withdraw Billions After Lawsuit
Financial trading app Robinhood said it would stop listing some of the assets named in the lawsuit, citing “uncertainty” about the tokens.
Critics accuse Gensler’s SEC of hostile “coercive regulation” aimed at boosting its own political image.
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