Regulators Point Guns at Crypto

Bitcoin bull Chamath Palihapitiya believes crypto is dead in America following the recent crackdown by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

While Bitcoin (BTC) has been declared dead over 500 times, Palihapitiya’s recent comments added to it. However, unlike other obituaries, he did not claim the death of crypto as a sector or technology. 

Bitcoin Still Set to Hit $1M, says VC

In the 125th episode of the All-In podcast, Palihapitiya discussed the current crypto regulatory scenario in the U.S., specifically as Coinbase plans to relocate offshore.

He is a tech investor who first invested in Bitcoin in 2012 and said two years ago that BTC had replaced gold. Furthermore, he sees Bitcoin hitting $1 million in the future. Palihapitiya said:

“Crypto is dead in America. I mean, now you have Gensler even blaming the banking crisis on crypto – so the United States authorities have firmly pointed their guns at crypto.”

Palihapitiya Calls out Regulatory Process

Palihapitiya believes it was fascinating how the exchange closest to getting a license was FTX. He spoke in the podcast,

Coinbase played by the rules, stood in line, tried to do the right things. It seems that every step along the way, right everything from Board composition to Executive composition to how they try to interact with the regulators. Yet, they were probably the furthest away from getting a license. The one that came the closest was the one that was the most fraudulent, which is FTX.

Source: YouTube

Many industry stakeholders have also called out the lack of regulatory clarity in the U.S. But Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), believes, “Nothing about the crypto markets is incompatible with the securities laws.”

Nonetheless, the community says, “Gary Gensler is running American innovation and markets into the ground by using acts created in the 1930s and 1940s to cover cryptocurrency.”

Crypto Businesses Winding Down Operations

While Coinbase plans to relocate, Bittrex already announced last month plans to wrap up operations in the U.S. Even after announcing the decision, the SEC filed a lawsuit against the exchange.

In the same lawsuit, the SEC called out six altcoins – OMG Network (OMG), Dash (DASH), Algorand (ALGO), Monolith (TKN), NAGA (NGC), and IHT Real Estate Protocol (IHT) as securities.

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