Bitcoin Miami panel dismisses ‘fight’ rhetoric against regulators

A trio of speakers in attendance at Industry Day, May 18, during The Bitcoin 2023 event in Miami discussed government regulation and how the crypto industry should fight back against the “anti-crypto army”.

Moderated by David Zell, co-founder of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, the panel included Chamber of Digital Commerce founder and CEO Perianne Boring; Meena Khattak, Senior Director, Crypto & Web3, Worldpay; and Dana Syracuse, a partner at the law firm Perkins Coe.

The Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Boring opened the discussion by describing the current regulatory situation as “grim” after placing part of the blame for the contentious nature of some of the discourse surrounding cryptocurrency regulation on recent scandals in the space. “With a lot of negative headlines,” Boring explained, “there have been a lot of failures. And that has given regulators a lot of ammo to crack down.”

Boring also said that some politicians seem to be against the spread of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance technology because it “doesn’t necessarily fit into the vision or the goals of some politicians who believe that this stuff should be regulated.” However, Boring expressed his belief that such challenges would be insurmountable:

“I have every confidence that we can overcome them because at the end of the day, bitcoin truly represents American values. What exactly does bitcoin do? It allows people to own their assets, their digital assets, for the first time in history. Allows to own and control.

Syracuse — co-chairman of the fintech industry group and co-lead of blockchain, digital assets and custody at law firm Perkins Coie — followed Boring’s statements by stating his agreement was in place, but added that it was “really bad news for the industry.” was not significant in” lose sight of the cooperation many regulators have had to date (…)

Pointing out that substantial work remains to be done with regard to crypto regulation in the United States, Worldpay’s Khattak described the current digital asset business environment as challenging for companies that may worry about the ever-changing regulatory landscape. Are.

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Citing the uneven Securities and Exchange Commission oversight, Khattak said, “If you go to market with a partner and they get hit with a Wells notice, for example, it’s a lot of reputation risk for the Web2 company.” produces.”

While all three panelists agreed that regulatory issues were a significant concern for the cryptocurrency space, none of them agreed with the premise of the discussion.

When asked by moderator Zell how the industry could “fight back” in Washington, Syracuse quickly replied, “I don’t think it’s a fight. I don’t think it should be antagonistic.” It is also dangerous to express it in those rhetorical terms.” In his final remarks, Khattak also said that it was his belief that the two most important ways to move forward with regulators are through education and collaboration.

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