The Wild West days of Crypto are coming to an end
When bitcoin was created back in 2009, no one really paid any attention to it. It was considered a pet project of a few cypher punks on the internet. Fast forward to present times and it has become a giant that has become a commonplace name and birthed an entire industry, comprising thousands of coins and projects that came from it. Cryptocurrency has become so big that at the height of the bull run in 2021 its marketcap was three trilllion dollars.
The enormous success of cryptocurrency has made many people a lot of money and also destroyed the life savings of many more. Scams have become so prevalent, along with the corruption and greed that comes with these sums of money. One only has to look at the spectacular destruction that the collapse of the exchange FTX caused.
In my opinion, 2009 to 2016 was the Wild West time in crypto, the government agencies such as the SEC, FBI and IRS didn’t pay that much attention to Bitcoin and. crypto. Now in our present time, things have changed and these agencies are now paying much closer attention. This is leading to the inevitable imposing of regulations. Talk to any trader on wall street and when they hear the word “regulations” their ears will definitely pick up. Regulations are definitely needed in the crypto industry so we can avoid another major catastrophe like the collapse of FTX. Regulations, however are a dual edged sword, they can crush crypto or they can breathe new life and give legitimacy to it.
Recently, the Federal Reserve Bank of the US stated that they see crypto as a severe threat to the current monetary system and some lawmakers are even calling for a complete ban on cryptocurrencies. This obviously, should it pass, will cause a collapse of the entire industry and we can expect cataclysmic drops in the prices of all cryptocurrencies. Personally, I doubt that this will come to fruition as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become too large and mainstream for the government to decide to chop its head off. Hopefully leaders in the new, exciting world of crypto and lawmakers can come to a sensible, equal agreement on the imposing of fair regulations on Bitcoin and all other crypto that is agreeable to all and doesn’t hamstring the crypto industry.
There are signs already that the Wild West days are rapidly ending. The IRS, last year recruited a further 83000 new agents and one of their primary objectives is to ensure all crypto investors are paying their fair share of gains. If you have any back taxes, or never fully reported all your crypto gains from years past, beware, you may be receiving one of their dreaded letters in the mail.
The FBI are currently concentrating far more on crypto related crimes such as money laundering and the enormous amount of scamming which so prevalent and detrimental to the crypto industry going forward. Something really has to be done about the amount of scams going around in crypto, it’s a Billion dollar criminal enterprise that has stolen a tremendous amount of money from ordinary investors with no signs of it ending anytime soon.
The SEC has openly stated that they are in the works to implementing regulations which will hopefully will be fair but that remains to be seen. This one worries me as the SEC’s history is a bit alarming if you research the acts they have done in the past.
If you find the issue of the coming crypto regulations concerning I urge you to pay close attention to the upcoming Consensus event that will be held in Austin, Texas April 26–28 2023. Here, many influential leaders in the crypto world will voice their opinions on what they believe will be fair regulations that should be adopted with regards to crypto. Hopefully, lawmakers will pay attention and they will meet somewhere in the middle when regulations are enacted.
Conclusion
We are at the point now where the sun is setting on the Wild West days of crypto and regulations are coming. Let’s hope that they are fair and the Crypto world can move into a new, fairer, more prosperous environment for all.