During the Bitcoin 2023 event in Miami on May 18, three speakers at an industry day discussed government regulation and how the cryptocurrency industry should fight back against the “anti-crypto army.”
The panel was moderated by David Zell, Co-Founder, Bitcoin Policy Institute, with Perianne Boring, Founder and CEO, Chamber of Digital Commerce as a guest; Mina Khattak, Senior Director, Encryption and Web3, Worldpay; and Dana Syracuse, Perkins Partner at Coie LLP. The discussion kicked off with the Chamber of Digital Commerce's Boring describing the current regulatory landscape as “dire,” after recent scandals in the space made some discussions around cryptocurrency regulation controversial. “There's been a lot of bad press, "Boring explained, “and there’s been a lot of setbacks. It’s given regulators a lot of immunization to fight.”
Boring also added that some politicians seem staunchly opposed to the proliferation of cryptocurrencies and decentralized financial technologies because it “doesn’t necessarily fit the vision or goals of some politicians who think these things should be controlled.” However, Boring stated that she believes these Challenges are Can overcome: “I am very confident that we can overcome these difficulties because at the end of the day, Bitcoin truly represents American values. What does Bitcoin actually do? It allows people to own and control their assets, their digital assets for the first time in history assets."
Syracuse co-chairman of the Fintech Industry Group and co-head of blockchain, digital assets and custody at law firm Perkins Coie followed up on Boring's statement, saying he agreed, but also suggested that “it's true for the industry.” It is important to ignore the amount of cooperation that many regulators have done to date.” Noting that there is still a lot of work to be done on crypto regulation in the US, Worldpay's Khattak described the current digital asset business environment as challenging for companies that may be concerned about the changing regulatory environment. Citing the SEC's regulatory imbalance, Khattak said, "If you're going to be marketing with a partner and they could be hit with a Wells notice, for example, that creates a lot of reputational risk for Web2 companies."
While all three panelists seemed to agree that regulatory issues are an important issue in the cryptocurrency space, none of them seemed to agree with the premise of the discussion.
When host Zell asked how the industry could "fight back" in Washington, Syracuse immediately responded, "I don't think it's a fight. I don't think it has to be adversarial." He continued, "Even in those rhetorical terms , it’s dangerous in the end.” In her final remarks, Khattak also added that she believes the two most important ways to make progress with regulators are through education and collaboration.
