We have just witnessed a seismic shift in the US political climate regarding blockchain technology. Up until this extraordinary U-turn, the single largest obstacle holding back blockchain adoption globally was in our view the hostile U.S. regulatory regime, says Ruud Smets, CIO, Theta Capital.
Recent events have turned this dynamic upside down, potentially converting the industry’s biggest headwind into an important tailwind:
• A surprise repeal by the US Senate of anti-crypto accounting rule SAB 121 – even although this was vetoed by Biden
• Unexpected approval of ETH ETF by the SEC;
• FIT21 regulatory framework passing US Congress with broad bipartisan support;
• Biden administration “eager to work with Congress to ensure a comprehensive and balanced regulatory framework for digital assets … which will promote the responsible development of digital assets”;
• Trump stating he will “ensure the future of crypto and the future of bitcoin will be made in the USA” and to “support the right to self-custody”.
While this needs to be followed through by actual implementations, it is clear that we are on a path to regulatory normalization. We believe it is hard to overstate the impact of this U-turn and it makes us even more bullish on the medium-term trajectory of blockchain technology.
It is no exaggeration to say that this technology is being used to build a “True Internet Economy”. With the invention of blockchain protocols for the first time we can…
