The crypto industry is increasingly concerned that US regulators are getting too hard on the space. It is predictable that companies in the space will look out to regions with clearer guidelines as a result, and it appears that industry and regulators around the world can learn lessons by looking beyond their borders.
“Hopefully we see the US take a stand,” Denelle Dixon, CEO and executive director of the Stellar Development Foundation, told Acutely.info+ at Consensus 2023. “If we don’t, there will be a lot of chaos.”
She’s not the only one who thinks this way. Rebecca Rettig, chief policy officer of the layer-2 blockchain Polygon, told Acutely.info+ that she spends a lot of time in DC meeting with policymakers, regulators and other groups for a variety of reasons. Some talks are for educating people, while other meetings are “pressing” about crypto policy. “We have a big gap between the industry and regulators, and to bridge that gap, the industry has to shift a little bit.”
Among the talks in Congress: market structure, stablecoins and the industry after the collapse of FTX.
“Regulators apply the law as it is written today and as they see it.” Rebecca Rettig, Chief Policy Officer, Polygon
“Regulators apply the law as it is written today and as they see it,” Rettig said. “That’s why we’ve seen some hostility, or a ‘regulatory crackdown’ as people call it. The industry needs to understand that they have to comply with the ethos we are talking about when there are no middlemen.”
Regulators and policy makers also want to see non-financial use cases for crypto. Last month, Polygon launched a crowdsourced database called Community Policy Initiative No. 1, which aims to share real-world use cases of web3 ranging from social impact to gaming applications. The database will be published once it has collected enough from the community, according to the website.
“As we build utilities around the technology, I think we will see interest and acceptance from regulators around the world, including the US,” Dixon said. “It’s about showing that we solve problems.”
