“This whole space is new technology into old law, and so there has to be some sort of more definitive guidance from regulatory agencies. We don’t have clarity on what that clear guidance, in plain English will be, but it needs to happen.”
So said Hailey Lennon of Bitflyer at an event organised by Elastos, a decentralised infrastructure for secure web-based transactions, to discuss the future of regulations, compliance, and best practices throughout the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. This included representatives of exchanges, including 0x and HBUS, as well as compliance directors from leading blockchain projects.
Fay Li, CMO of Elastos, commented: “Compliance has become one of the most important issues in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Every legitimate project wants to be compliant, but the lack of clarity on compliance standards is holding back the technological movement. We have made compliance a priority and we plan to continue to lead on this important issue. The conversation we are starting today is representative of the dialogue that needs to take place across the world, and here in the United States in particular.”
The state of crypto regulation within the United States remains largely ambiguous. With newly elected officials set to take office at the beginning of the new year, regulation around emerging tech and blockchain compliance are likely to be one of the most important points of discussion within the legislature.
Over the course of two panel discussions, speakers examined best practices regarding regulation of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. The first set of panelists discussed their work on compliance, and the future of cryptocurrency regulation. The second focused on what exchanges would need to do in order to be compliant and what they look for in a coin when they consider listing it.
In regards to securities and money transmitter regulation, Jason Somensatt of 0x, said, “Answers to high level taxonomy questions around securities law are going to define how the space moves forward, but from a day to day operations perspective, you have to live with uncertainty. I spend a lot of time thinking about what the best practices we can execute upon within our company are, to at least minimise risk as much as possible.”
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.