The cryptocurrency industry is facing a growing crackdown from regulators around the world. In the US, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been particularly aggressive in pursuing enforcement actions against crypto firms.
Although crypto exchanges are not illegal in the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned the sale of crypto derivatives to retail investors in 2020. In China, the government has banned cryptocurrency trading and mining. The regulatory crackdown is having a chilling effect on the industry, making it harder for crypto firms to raise capital and operate.
Michael Saylor, the former CEO of MicroStrategy stated that the recent clampdown on crypto from a regulatory point of view is good for bitcoin. He believes that it will help Bitcoin become stronger, as it should be. “Crypto crackdown is really good for Bitcoin.”
The reason behind his assertion is that the crackdown that is affecting over 20,000 crypto tokens including stablecoins is making exchanges delist these assets. The effect is that users lose trust in the tokens and move their money into bitcoin which is the most decentralized. “Bitcoin is the ethically sound, technically sound, economically sound crypto asset,” he added. “It’s the king of all the crypto assets.”
He added the strength of Bitcoin is that he sees it as a commodity and not a security. “You can’t serve as global money for the world unless you’re a commodity,” the former CEO noted. Securities are always controlled by an issuer that is made up of a smaller group of people. The more people lose trust in what is available today in the crypto market, the more they will move their money to Bitcoin.
Bad for crypto is equal to good for bitcoin
Michael went further to say that for everything that is bad for crypto, the opposite is true for Bitcoin. Although, he quipped that a lot of people are yet to grasp what this means. He cited examples from all the lawsuits that have happened over the past six months saying that the one word that is missing from the suits is bitcoin.
These lawsuits that have involved the SEC, CFTC, Binance, Bittrex, and more have highlighted issues related to custody. As exchanges are shutting down, bitcoin will be the direct haven for those who believe in the future of crypto.
Apart from The movement of money into bitcoin due to trust issues is beneficial, it will also strengthen the network further. “If I buy $10 billion of Bitcoin and I put it at FTX and then FTX loses it or steals it, it makes the Bitcoin Network $10 billion.” He added that the same scenario and outcome is true when Bitcoin on Block fi, Voyager, Alameda, Three Arrows, FTX, and Celsius is lost.
Enhances institutional adoption
Another advantage Michael pointed out about the crackdown on crypto is that it is driving and will drive institutional adoption of bitcoin as well as “accelerating the education process.” he reminded the audience that 12 months ago, no one wanted to agree that bitcoin was a commodity while other crypto assets are securities.
However, that has changed today as he pointed out that most top traditional media firms such as Bloomberg, CNBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, as well as political figures, now call bitcoin a commodity when they discuss the crypto industry.
The impact is that a lot of people, including entrepreneurs in the crypto economy, are compelled to study securities law to understand the difference between securities and commodities.
Michael added that education has made a lot of influencers more cautious as well, since several of them who never knew what these assets were have been sued for promoting the wrong projects.
Read also;
How MicroStrategy has benefitted from Bitcoin
What can MicroStrategy do with the Lightning network?
