Hi fellow Steemians!
Hours ago, we've seen reports saying the the New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, launched a probe into cryptocurrency exchanges. The argument is that consumers often don't have access to "basic facts" about how they operate.
The exchange platforms in question are Coinbase, Gemini, BitTrust and others.
Personally, I welcome the move. Here's why.
More transparency
People could argue that this probe is just a 'tool' to manipulate Bitcoin and other crypto prices. In a way, they may be correct because a few hours ago, we saw a sudden dip in BTC price.
But I would gladly take a few percent dip in price in the short run for a higher return in the long run. The probe, whether you like it or not, will bring transparency. It'll slam the ones that are making dodgy transactions and raise the awareness of the ones that are clean. You and I are all on Steemit because one way or another we're interested in cryptocurrency and in the future, want to see it do well. To do so, cryptocurrency exchange platforms must first prove to the regulators that what they do is legitimate. Also as consumers, we want to weed out the unreliable and ambiguous ones.
Opportunity for regulators to learn about cryptocurrency
Crypto has been mainstream for years, and yet many governments around the world still have no clue how to regulate them. I'm not saying they should be controlling these coins, but should come up with policies and regulations that can help regular Joes like myself understand the processes better, including taxes - something I talked about previously here if you're interested. I believe this will be a great opportunity for these regulators to get to know about cryptocurrency a bit better and finally understand that they aren't scary. When they do understand better, perhaps they might ease on the regulations... Who know.
Raised awareness of cryptocurrency
I understand cryptocurrency doesn't really need more raised awareness. It's been all over the news for the past months and years. But I think it needs more 'positive awareness'. Most of the coverage on crypto has been quite negative and even this story is about regulators 'probing' exchange platforms. In my opinion, the exchange platforms that are being 'probed' are mostly clean (or at least I hope they are). If they are, I'm sure they'll go on record to say that people have nothing to worry about. This, I predict will bring in more buyers and increase demand, thus seeing a rise in price. (I don't predict too much change in supply, or at least a change in increase in supply to what we already have now).
Any counter arguments?
Well, first and foremost, if these exchange platforms have indeed been acting in a suspicious manner and have participated in activities such as money laundering, then we're in for a big trouble.
Another argument may be the regulators will find the smallest of problems and blow them out of proportion.
So let's hope we have honest and clean exchange platforms for the sake of cryptocurrency's future.
End note
What do you think about this issue? Are you optimistic as I am or pessimistic? Let me know!
