According to reports by the New York Times, both the Venezuelan and Russian governments have been working on ways to evade sanctions posed by the United States by creating their own new, state-sponsored cryptocurrencies that will be out of the reach of the U.S jurisdiction. While everyone saw this coming, the Whack-a-Mole-like way that it is being handled has been rather disheartening, to say the least.
By trying to just go after each and every problematic example of crypto on an ad-hoc basis has made it rather obvious that the U. S will eventually lose that battle sort of like it did with the war on drugs. Getting ahead of the problem once this occurs is simply impossible, however, this represents an opportunity.
Instead of playing whack-a-mole, it is about time that the U.S and everyone else acknowledges the reality of cryptocurrency and that they are here to stay. This way, it will be much easier to come up with relevant and sensible regulations that will help in governing the sector in the best ways possible. This can be broken down into four important steps:
- Acknowledge the reality
At this point in time, institutions that still deny the legitimacy of crypto are the same ones that are propelling its advent by reinforcing the need for decentralized currencies. No one trusts official and authoritarian institutions anymore – these include governments, the media, organized religion and even institutions of higher learning. It is perhaps what makes cryptocurrencies such formidable forces in the world right now and to be part of the inevitable forthcoming revolution these institutions need to first accept the reality that they exist in right now – decentralized currencies are a thing now, and they are here to stay. - Industry acceptance
Well, this is a rather obvious one but just to elaborate, it is undeniable that many industries will either survive or get toppled depending on the side they choose to take in regards to crypto. For industries, however, the key issue is to recognize that the institutions mentioned above are not going anywhere either and that the actions of these institutions may affect everyone in the long run. - Concrete steps forward
The idea here is to accept and eventually fully, legally and officially recognize cryptocurrency as a permanent addition to global financial systems. Major players and stakeholders in the industry should begin volunteering to assist in the provision and formulation of advice, more ideas, as well as information and feedback. - Take it notch higher
Eventually, crypto needs to go global – not that it currently isn’t but it should be reintroduced with sensible global standards in mind which, may even be suitable for exile state-sponsored cryptocurrencies that were intended to evade sanctions.
While the world is keen on seeing how the whole crypto game plays out, there seem to be only two options – pretending it’s not real which will culminate in more problems; or embrace the advancement of new ideas, technologies, and platforms while utilizing them rationally and wisely to achieve global development.
