Crypto industry in regulatory stranglehold of ‘unelected officials’

The US war on crypto is ramping up, with the latest salvo being fired at Binance. Meanwhile, industry leaders are raising concerns that Uncle Sam is stifling crypto and innovation.

On March 27, Haun Ventures founder and Coinbase board member Katie Haun wrote an article about how US financial regulators are intentionally stifling the crypto industry.

She believed that financial regulators had seized the opportunity to crack down after the high-profile meltdowns in 2022.

Furthermore, they have bypassed Congress to “try to freeze an entire industry out of banking,” she said.

Cryptopolitics a job for Congress

The former federal prosecutor added that crypto companies are being lumped in with the bad actors. This is part of a “coordinated regulatory campaign to impede progress in the sector,” she said.

Other countries are rolling out regulatory frameworks and legislation for the nascent industry. However, “unelected officials” are making major policy decisions about whether America should have a crypto industry, she said.

“These efforts are misguided, reckless and potentially unconstitutional. Most importantly, they set America on the dangerous path of shutting down the banking system to those disaffected by a particular administration.”

Haun repeated statements from other industry leaders. “Major American policy decisions should be made by Congress and state legislatures, not by unelected officials,” she said.

Furthermore, the SEC and CFTC have taken matters into their own hands due to the regulatory vacuum in the US.

Honesty and openness have been called for. However, the expedient political view threatens to stifle innovation and penalize legitimate actors. The investment company’s manager concluded:

“Government censorship as a backdoor substitute for the legislative process has no place in finance — or any industry.”

Bank Bunkum Redux

Capriole Fund founder Charles Edwards echoed the sentiment. He commented that the US banking system is under stress, and financial regulators are cracking down on crypto in response.

“It’s ironic that in the last 2 weeks US regulators have kicked everything they have into Crypto as a result of Bitcoin being a viable alternative. Signature Bank illegal shutdown, Coinbase Wells notice unwarranted, Binance sued, the list goes on. “

The latest lawsuit targeting Binance has rattled the markets today. Additionally, a 2.6% decline in total market capitalization has resulted in a drop to $1.78 trillion at the time of writing. However, the digital dust seems to have settled with markets holding at today’s levels for the last 12 hours or so.