Cryptocurrency as an asset class is still very much in its infancy. It was started in 2009 with the creation of crypto’s poster boy, Bitcoin, and since then we have seen the birth of millions of projects with myriad different utilities, and some without any. Champions of crypto see the asset class taking over the world as unavoidable, with its never ending list of potential use cases, whilst critics believe it to be a speculative vehicle with no use case and a lot of risk. In reality though, what is the likely outcome for crypto?
As tensions surrounding the increased regulation of the ecosystem begin to mount, we are left feeling the inevitability of regulation on a space which has been notorious for its ability to avoid rules. As recently as this past week, the senate rejected a bipartisan proposal to clarify the definition of a broker in terms of tax reporting. Although it may seem small, a bill discussing crypto in the senate would simply be unfathomable five years ago. It is undeniable that we are going to see hugely increased politicization of crypto in the coming years. However, we do not yet know whether other countries will follow suit and attempt to bring in universal regulation, or whether crypto companies will simply vacate the United States to move offshore.
