On the latest congressional cryptocurrency hearings, the General Counsel at Ripple, Stuart Alderoty, shared his opinion concerning the current state of crypto regulations in the United States of America. He advised the US to embrace the cryptocurrency or lose the leading position in the global economy.
According to Alderoty, the current state of digital assets is hurting US companies. During the internet boom, the US had an advantage over the rest of the world because it was leading in technology and policy making.
The blockchain is an advancement of the internet, and cryptocurrency is the first product of this technology, there is a need for regulation clarity for the US companies to benefit from the cryptocurrency.
How the US Has Failed to Embrace the Cryptocurrency
The Counsel stated that although the cryptocurrency is an emerging market, it is growing to maturity but there is no corresponding maturity in crypto regulation in the United States. Rather it has been left in the hands of several regulators who control the cryptocurrency and the industry as well.
There are no clearly drawn regulatory lines and standard that can determine how the crypto and the industry behind it run. This can only result in confusion and uncertainty because there are no principles but static rules.
The current regulation does not recognize the differences between technologies, but categorize the internet activities as same. Creating hindrances to responsible US companies that are ready to deliver real innovations.
Impact of Wrong regulation on the Cryptocurrency by the US
He went further to say that the US companies are disadvantaged because poor regulation hinders them from competing favorably, with the rest of the world.
American companies are moving their innovations to other countries that have clearer regulations and framework.
He warned that if things continue this way, China will take over from the US as the world leader. China is already leading in the cryptocurrency space hosting the largest community of miners. The Chinese Central Bank is already developing CBDC.
He also pointed out that among all the cryptocurrencies, XRP Ledger is most used by many companies.
Ripple is deploying this technology to remove the cross-border settlement bottlenecks such as high transaction cost, and low transaction turnaround time.