Change lies ahead for haphazard crypto regulation

The World Wide Web, as its name implies, is borderless, and so is crypto. The internet and cryptocurrency’s common ethos is wide-open communication and exchange, unimpeded by national boundaries. On the ground, however, as crypto has become a more significant player in the financial system, nations have begun to consider issues of sovereignty and regulation. While many countries have so far remained open to crypto, others have restricted its use or outright banned it. The same reason that some have advocated for crypto and blockchain technology — as a means of revolutionizing the international financial system — has alarmed plenty of world leaders.

For example, Hillary Clinton, calling attention to the risks of crypto and the need for regulation,

Such lack of clear direction may inhibit some crypto trading in the short and medium terms from those who feel such trading is too risky. But one thing that’s virtually certain is that crypto and other digital currencies, and the blockchain technology that underpins them, are going to continue to be a force that governments will have to reckon with.

Crypto and, by extension, blockchain are part of the much larger technologically-driven global movement known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Within this revolution, the world is undergoing a digital transformation, and digital currency simply makes sense as every aspect of our lives evolves from analog to digital. How important is the digitalization of money and its underlying distributed ledger in this revolution? Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum — best known for its annual conference in Davos, Switzerland — has said, “Blockchains are at the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Just as fears about the possible repercussions of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering are managed with some level of regulation, rather than stopping those advances entirely, national concerns about the potentially destabilizing impact of cryptocurrency are unlikely to halt its growing usage. Regulation, if properly applied, might bring some desirable order into the often chaotic proliferation of cryptocurrencies, but it’s finding the right approach to regulating this emerging phenomenon that’s proving challenging.

This column is an excerpt adapted from the Cryptocurrency QuickStart Guide, scheduled for release on Feb. 27.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.