According to Hester Peirce, an American lawyer and Commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a government ban on Bitcoin would be foolish. She further said that it would be hard to stop anyone from trading in digital currencies.
Peirce, a well-known Bitcoin-friendly lawyer who is also referred to as ‘Crypto Mom’ by the crypto community, made these remarks during a virtual panel organized by MarketWatch.
“I think we were past that point of banning Bitcoin in the US very early on because you’d have to shut down the internet,” the SEC Commissioner said. According to her, technology will outpace the government’s attempts to limit Bitcoin use and people will always be able to download a Bitcoin wallet, run a node, and make transactions as long as they have access to the internet.
“I think we would be missing out. A bigger problem would be we would be missing out on the innovation around Bitcoin and other digital assets if we decided to try to stop them,” commented on the consequences of ignoring the value of the cryptocurrency.
Peirce highlighted the importance of a clear crypto regulatory framework in the US and considers that to be the short- and medium-term realities affecting Bitcoin.
“Our approach has been much more of a ‘say no and tell people to wait’ approach, so we need to turn that around, be willing to work to build a framework that is appropriate for this industry,” said Peirce, who has always been a proponent of implementing a good regulatory framework in the U.S.
According to the SEC Commissioner, the U.S. has some “catch up” to do and will need to adopt a more progressive stance towards cryptocurrency industry.
“I think we are certainly behind the curve. We’ve seen other countries take a much more, I would say productive approach to regulating crypto in the sense that… It’s not saying we shouldn’t have any regulations at all. They’ve just been saying, ‘Let’s build a regulatory framework that works for crypto…’
In a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, former SEC chair Jay Clayton said that regulations on Bitcoin are imminent
In the online discussion, Peirce also touched the subject of Bitcoin ETF’s with over a handful of financial institutions having filed applications with the SEC recently and ‘Crypto Mom’ said she could not say when a Bitcoin ETF would be available in the US though. According to many, a Bitcoin ETF could act as a catalyst for a rush of institutional money to, albeit indirectly, flow into the Bitcoin market.
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Source: Igaming
