Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and the intersection of economics and cryptography.
Regulators Allow Bad Boys to Grow Big and Inflate to Serve Their Agenda – Regulation of Bitcoin News
CEO of crypto exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell, says US regulators “let the bad guys get big and blow up because it serves their agenda.” The manager explained: “Bad guys operate with huge competitive advantages. They absorb users, income and venture capital that would otherwise go to the good guys.”
Kraken’s CEO has a theory about US crypto regulation
The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell, took to Twitter on Sunday to express his opinion regarding crypto regulation in the United States. The manager began:
I have a theory: Regulators let the bad guys get big and blow up because it serves their agenda.
Powell went on to name three goals he believes regulators are trying to achieve. The first is to “destroy capital/resources in [the] crypto ecosystem,” he wrote. The other is to “burn people, [and] deter adoption,” he continued, adding that the third is to “provide air cover to attack good actors.”
The Kraken boss argued that for regulators: “The bad guys are actually on the side. Good guys are the enemy.” However, he emphasized, “If the bad guys can run long enough without blowing up, they might be able to kill the good guys for you.” Noting that bad guys “can always be jailed later,” Powell warned:
Bad guys operate with huge competitive advantages. They suck up users, revenue and risk capital that would otherwise go to the good guys.
In another tweet, Powell commented on how regulators often seek more funding from Congress to regulate the crypto sector more effectively. “Funding is the obvious scapegoat. “If we had a bigger budget, we could have taken it.” The facts don’t support it, but instead of imposing real consequences for failure, we reward bigger budgets. The glory is all in disaster response, so politicians produce disasters, he believed.
Earlier this month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took action against Kraken over its betting program. The crypto exchange settled with the SEC, shutting down its betting program for US customers and agreeing to pay $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties.
Powell also recently expressed his frustration with how regulators ignored his warning about illegal activity in the crypto space and then hit his exchange with enforcement. Without specifically mentioning the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, the Kraken CEO tweeted on Friday:
I can’t tell you how annoying it is to have pointed out massive red flags and obviously illegal activity to regulators only to have them ignore the problems for years. “They are offshore. It’s complicated. We look at everyone. THIS YEAR. To then be used as an example.
What do you think of Kraken CEO Jesse Powell’s theory that US regulators let bad guys grow big and then don’t fit their agenda? Let us know in the comments section below.
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