The SEC has taken a host of enforcement actions against different cryptocurrency entities of late. However, stalwarts from the space are not satisfied with the regulatory agency’s approach. Recently, Ripple’s executive Brad Garlinghouse opined that the SEC’s actions were “not healthy.”
In fact, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong spoke on similar lines in a recent podcast with Bloomberg. In the episode, host Tracy Alloway said that it was hard for her to come up with an economical use case for crypto assets like Dogecoin. Despite giving disclosures, she opined that it seems highly likely that people will be losing money on that product at some point in time. Opining on the same and elaborating on what should consumer protections look like in crypto, Armstrong said,
“The regulation and the consumer protection probably should happen with the centralized actors, the custodian, the exchange, not necessarily Dogecoin, which would be another decentralized coin.”
Armstrong then stressed the importance of having audited financials, segregated customer and corporate funds, adequate AML/KYC programs, circumventing wash trading, and appropriate disclosures. He added,
“So those are all just kind of good general best practices, but again, it’s focused on the centralized players as opposed to the decentralized pieces.“
Also Read – Ripple CEO: SEC’s Enforcement Actions Are ‘Not Healthy’
I “love” Bitcoin: Armstrong
Bitcoin was the first ever cryptocurrency to be launched. In fact, it remains one of the most important flagbearers of decentralization to date. Despite that, it has time and again managed to garner opposition from anti-Bitcoiners. Putting forth his view on the said topic, Armstrong said,
“I love Bitcoin. I don’t really understand why anybody might think the opposite. I’ve kind of almost dedicated my life to Bitcoin and helping it grow. I mean, literally, I read the Bitcoin White paper and then decided to quit my job and found this company.”
The Coinbase executive then went on to assert that if Bitcoin’s Lightning network continues to gain traction, “it could also become like a settlement layer.” Additionally, there are now users creating NFTs on Bitcoin, and per Armstrong, that’s evolution. Further explaining why Bitcoin will continue growing, the Coinbase executive said,
“I think there’s a very simple base case for Bitcoin, which is that it’s the gold standard in the crypto economy. And I think that that’ll probably always be true and it’ll keep growing.“
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