(Beginning at 2min 18sec in to the video) SEC commissioner Hester Peirce discusses the effect Terra's collapse could have on crypto regulation in the U.S.

Video Courtesy of CNBC

Frankly, I was surprised to see the 2021 agenda of the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) not once mention bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.

So, at least based on this - it looks like they won't be issuing any new regulations anytime soon.

This becomes a bit less surprising when you look at the person ultimately in charge of the agenda, current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

Before his role at the SEC, he was a professor at MIT where one of his roles was serving as the senior lecturer on Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchains.

If you've forced yourself to watch any past hearings on the topic, you likely noticed the officials who see cryptocurrency as some kind of urgent threat, also seem to be completely illiterate with technology in general.

But the new SEC Chairman appears to actually understand the tech behind cryptocurrency, as well as how it can have an important role in a healthy economy, even referring to Bitcoin as "the modern form of gold."

So what does have their attention for the rest of 2021? Reddit traders, who have some Wall Street vets in a panic...

The list of topics that will be discussed for the last half of the year is dominated with issues like short positions on the stock market, which as been a hot topic after Reddit drove up the prices of GameStop and AMC Theaters, generating millions in losses for some big Wall Street players who had bet against these companies.

Some criticism over the agenda is coming from within...

Two SEC commissioners, Hester M. Peirce, and Elad L. Roisman, publicly stated that "The Agenda is missing some other important rulemakings, including rules to provide clarity for digital assets, allow companies to compensate gig workers with equity..."

They end their statement urging the Chairman to 'reconsider' and 'revisit' the agenda, and add these issues to it. Chairman Gensler has not issued a response. 

Then there's the pro-crypto, pro-regulation advocates...

Many believe that the right regulations - ones that provide clarity around cryptocurrencies, while at the same time not overstepping in authority causing progress to slow down, would actually greatly benefit the market.

There's a lot of money on the sidelines held by investors who will not consider cryptocurrency an option until regulations remove the 'grey areas' surrounding them.

Recently Billionaire investor and Shark Tank judge Mark Cuban, who says he owns Bitcoin, Ethereum, and some DeFi tokens, called for regulations to clarify what qualifies as a 'stable coin' and ' and 'what collateralization is acceptable'.

There's probably no better time to get this done than now, while Gensler is serving as SEC chairman. 

Also worth mentioning...

The SEC isn't the only US governmental body with oversight authority over cryptocurrencies - they share this responsibility with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) - and we have no idea how they plan to spend the rest of 2021.


-----------
Author: Ross Davis 
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco Newsroom / Breaking Crypto News

There's no downplaying how important this is - what just happened has the ability to bring the crypto markets, and the tech behind it to new levels.

Many crypto based companies left the US simply to play it safe, as no one (to this day) can figure out how, and when the SEC decides to enforce regulations.  Regulations many think do not legally apply to crypto, as they were written before the internet was invented. 

This is a situation I've watched closely when we broke the story of the first cryptocurrency laws proposed in 2018. As the process of trying to catch up with the rest of the world began, I also began to examine what went wrong. 

In a widely circulated report I published a little over a year ago titled 'How US Lawmakers BLEW IT - The MULTI-BILLION Dollar Blockchain Industry That Left America.' I explained how I found myself in Silicon Valley surrounded by new emerging tech innovation - all types of new tech, except crypto.

That's when I learned things were worse than I knew.

Elderly US lawmakers, confused as to what cryptocurrency even was, saw no need for new laws, the ones written before color TV's were indented will do just fine. 

I summed up the situation writing: "The US is the birthplace of both computers and the internet - yet we're being forced onto the sidelines of the blockchain/crypto revolution as our tech-illiterate leaders do nothing to keep up with the times, and have left regulators with laws written in the 1940's to regulate crypto."

Thankfully, there's some younger lawmakers working to bring the older ones up to speed, explaining the disadvantage US companies current have.

In a rare moment of clarity and productivity - both US political parties  came together and took the first steps towards putting the country on a pro-innovation path when it comes to cryptocurrency.

Part of 6 bipartisan financial services bills the US House passed this week.

Most relevant to us is fixing what type of asset a cryptocurrency is.  Currently considered a 'security' like stocks, this bill requires the SEC (which oversees securities) to team up with the CFTC (which oversees commodities).like gold. Most believe owning crypto is closer to owning gold than it is to owning a stock. 

Both agencies have been instructed to spend the next year communicating with each other, as well as private businesses,.

But perhaps most importantly is they have also been ordered to examine how countries like Switzerland passed regulations that allow for  both free trade of crypto and prosecution of fraud, all while attracting hundreds of blockchain companies to the Swiss 'crypto valley' business distract. 

But it will only succeed if...

This process is done with honesty in mind at all times, even if the truth highlights past failures - we need to be honest about what needs to be fixed, or they won't be fixed at all. 

That means being honest about failures that got us here, and being able to honestly credit countries that got it right - because the right move is to copy them.

Now that there's a real chance we see more in the near future beyond investment potential. The US may soon, have a real blockchain/and crypto industry right here in the states - long overdue, but better than never.


-----------
Author: Ross Davis 
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco Newsroom / Breaking Crypto News