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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) latest hire, Chairman Gary Gensler, has warned that the Wild West era for digital currencies, including Bitcoin, is about to come to a swift end.
Gavin Lucas of CoinGeek writes that savvy entrepreneurs in the space are positioning themselves to be in good standing with the SEC and not run afoul of the law.
"It’s clear that things are changing. While experiments like the Lightning Network make it even more difficult to track and trace transactions and thus comply with regulations, forward-thinking developers are moving in droves to legally compliant blockchains like BSV."
Gensler took direct aim at the criminality in the digital currency industry by vowing a widespread crackdown. He also has hired an advisor, Corey Frayer, who himself has close ties to one Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio who briefly launched a US Presidential campaign for 2020.
"Those who follow these developments closely will already know that Sen. Brown recently sent a strongly worded letter to Tether, Circle, and other stablecoin issuers about a month ago," Lucas points out. "The letter requested information that, if provided, would leave Tether with nowhere to hide, suggesting the Senator is wise to the offshore firm’s shenanigans and knows what questions to ask so that Tether shows its hand.
Sen. Brown has not been warm towards the digital currency space in general. He recently called it a “shady diffuse network of online funny money.”
"As America goes, most of the world follows, since the U.S. controls the world financial system. If Uncle Sam wants Tether gone or wants stablecoin issuers to be regulated as banks, you can bet your bottom dollar it will happen in most countries that want to stay on the right side of him. And if he wants anonymous transactions banned, you can also wager that hosted wallet providers, transaction processors (aka miners), and others will comply worldwide.
"I won’t attempt to predict the exact consequences of all of this, but if Tether goes down, 70% of the volume in the industry will cease overnight. It’s difficult to say what that will mean for prices of tokens like BTC and ETH, but what can be said for sure is that it will lead to a stronger, better, and more legitimate industry where players who did things right from day one will finally have a chance to shine."
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
