Who would have thought it? Crypto has now suffered harsh crackdowns from both the major world superpowers and is still undergoing increased adoption.
An adapting Chinese crypto strategyFirst it was China. A huge and sprawling country with a very centralised government overseen by its paramount leader Xi Jinping who controls both the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, and just about everything else.
China has been at the forefront internationally of those countries that are looking to implement a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Such a move, allied to China’s social scoring system would likely give Jinping and his central bank unrivalled power and control over Chinese citizens. Therefore, private digital assets such as cryptocurrencies are complete anathema to such a plan.
There followed a complete ban on trading of cryptocurrencies and a ban on crypto mining was imposed across China. However, China has implemented such bans before, and despite causing an initial large drop in the Bitcoin hash rate, as many of the Chinese Bitcoin miners came off line, much of the hash rate has since returned as the miners set up shop again in other more welcoming countries.
Further to Chinese embarrassment, the hash rate has increased again in China itself, leading it to become the 3rd largest contributor to the Bitcoin hash rate worldwide.
On top of this, the Chinese government appears to have had a change of heart as regards crypto, perhaps realising that this technology could have a much greater impact on the world as it continues to mature.
Still not happy with allowing crypto to have its head within the mainland borders, China looks to have nominated Hong Kong as its offshore sandbox, giving it the luxury of watching developments as Hong Kong strives to become a fully regulated crypto hub and attracts crypto companies that might have gone instead to competing Asian crypto hubs such as Dubai and Singapore.
US fast becoming the most repressive regime for cryptoMeanwhile in the West, the United States, once the home of business and the entrepreneurial heartland of the globe, is very much following in the footsteps of China, without even the testing ground of an offshore territory such as Hong Kong.
It might appear that Gary Gensler, the head of the SEC, the regulatory watchdog of the US for securities, has been tasked by the government with systematically destroying the crypto industry in the United States.
Given that the US has managed to achieve complete financial hegemony over the rest of the world by the use of the dollar as the global reserve currency, private digital assets such as cryptocurrencies are probably being seen as a threat to this domination.
However, the US should be the first country to realise that no individual, regulatory body, or government, can do more than impede the progress of a new technology for any length of time. Technology cannot be repressed for long, and if it is truly innovative and ground-breaking, as is the case with blockchain and cryptocurrencies, it will always win out.
Therefore, the SEC’s attacks on crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, which have done their level best to follow the misty and obscure road of compliance, would appear to be the height of folly.
The US might be attempting to go the route of much greater control and centralisation, but it still happens to be the land of the free, even though the sands of time might be running down for that particular ideal, so it is not difficult for business leaders to see what is really happening as the regulatory agencies go far beyond their remit in order to attack and suppress the crypto industry in the US.
Crypto adoption marches onBe that as it may, crypto marches onwards and upwards. Wallet holders of Bitcoin increased by 40% even during the bear market, and if the US succeeds in driving crypto companies from its shores, jurisdictions in Europe (UK, and France) and Asia (Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore) among others, are waiting to take up the slack.
The battle is also not over in the US. The entrance of the largest asset management company in the world (Blackrock) into the Spot Bitcoin EFT space, will now make the battle for crypto even more interesting going forward.
Fast-depreciating fiat currencies are an unpalatable fact for all citizens of the world. A store of value (Bitcoin), and a potential solution to debasing fiat currencies (crypto) are becoming widely adopted. Will central bank-influenced governments be able to stop them?
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
