According to Smith, the passage of comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation is still far out on the horizon. She tells Cointelegraph:

“There’s still a knowledge gap. […] There are too many members of Congress that don’t have enough of a base of understanding. Congress needs to come in and bring regulations to this space. I think we’re several years away from something like that getting traction.” 

While trade organizations learn the Washington landscape and work to educate lawmakers, the best-case scenario is that cooler heads prevail. If moderate legislators win the hearts and minds of the U.S. electorate, the investment community is less likely to be stifled by excessive, stand-alone regulatory bills, as there are pro-crypto senators on both sides of the aisle. It’s all but impossible that any bill with overly burdensome regulation would ever find its way out of the legislative committee let alone onto President Biden’s desk.

Moderates would also ensure that fraud, never-ending market volatility and investor manipulation couldn’t become long-term normative behaviors. Sooner or later, a U.S. president will receive meaningful legislation that properly defines cryptocurrency, assigns federal regulatory jurisdiction, implements common-sense fraud controls and helps stabilize the market. A semi-informed public is demanding it. Institutional investors, which are the largest political donors, expect it and industry competitors need it. Eden Doniger, general counsel and chief compliance officer of BitPay, tells Cointelegraph:

According to Smith, the passage of comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation is still far out on the horizon. She tells Cointelegraph:

“There’s still a knowledge gap. […] There are too many members of Congress that don’t have enough of a base of understanding. Congress needs to come in and bring regulations to this space. I think we’re several years away from something like that getting traction.” 

While trade organizations learn the Washington landscape and work to educate lawmakers, the best-case scenario is that cooler heads prevail. If moderate legislators win the hearts and minds of the U.S. electorate, the investment community is less likely to be stifled by excessive, stand-alone regulatory bills, as there are pro-crypto senators on both sides of the aisle. It’s all but impossible that any bill with overly burdensome regulation would ever find its way out of the legislative committee let alone onto President Biden’s desk.

Moderates would also ensure that fraud, never-ending market volatility and investor manipulation couldn’t become long-term normative behaviors. Sooner or later, a U.S. president will receive meaningful legislation that properly defines cryptocurrency, assigns federal regulatory jurisdiction, implements common-sense fraud controls and helps stabilize the market. A semi-informed public is demanding it. Institutional investors, which are the largest political donors, expect it and industry competitors need it. Eden Doniger, general counsel and chief compliance officer of BitPay, tells Cointelegraph: