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Regulators in the United States are still trying to place restrictions on the emerging crypto industry in an attempt to prevent illicit activities. Right now, sentiments in the country towards the crypto market is still on the negative side despite other nations trying to adapt to the technological evolution of the financial economy.
The latest development on this front is that the U.S. Congress will be voting on a bill that will further clarify the role of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the cryptocurrency derivatives market. The bill has managed to unanimously pass through the House of Agriculture Committee – the body overseeing the CFTC – and is on its way towards the House of Representatives, CoinDesk reported.
It remains to be seen whether the prevailing negative perspective on the crypto market by the U.S. will persist once the representatives vote for the bill. Pro-crypto Congressman Warren Davidson urged the U.S. government to carefully regulate crypto unless it wants to be left in the dust by other nations who are fostering this industry’s growth.
The pros outweigh the risks
While cryptocurrency does pose a threat to governments as illicit actors are using it for money laundering, tax evasion, and terrorist financing, its underlying technology – blockchain – offers huge advantages that could save the U.S. government millions of dollars in operational costs. Davidson told CoinTelegraph that the advantages presented by this technology outweigh the cons that it possesses.
“From improving capital formation, supply chain logistics, reinventing shop floor operations, product identification and traceability, U.S. manufacturers could stand to harness the power of blockchain to unleash incredible innovation and manufacturing growth,” Davidson said.
U.S. in danger of getting left behind
The problem is that most U.S. politicians are lumping up cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, and the concept of digital decentralization in a single pile, Forbes noted. Add the fact that Facebook’s Libra initiative drew the wrath of the U.S. Congress a couple of weeks ago and it’s unsurprising that the country is lagging behind other superpowers who are looking to adopt the technology into their fold.
China is accelerating its blockchain adoption. Finland just approved five crypto services to operate in the country following rigorous checking and rechecking. And the European Union is poised to study the recently created draft that is calling for regulation of cryptocurrencies that would prevent illegal activities while ensuring it doesn’t stifle its growth. China is developing its own digital currency while the EU is going to discuss the possibility of digital currency issuance.
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