CoolBitX Head of U.S. Operations Thomas Maxon recently took part in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Digital Money Forum panel, where he laid out solutions and strategies to overcome current regulatory obstacles the cryptocurrency industry is facing in 2020.
Held in Las Vegas’ Venetian on January 7th, 2020, the panel discussion “Blockchain: Overcoming Obstacles Starts with Regulation” dissected the need for increasing U.S federal regulations that are trying to stamp out illicit activity associated with cryptocurrencies through more defined legislation and stronger punitive action. The 6-person panel included Michael J. Casey from Coindesk and Michelle Bond from Ripple.
While most of the panel was highly critical of the state of crypto regulation today, Mr. Maxon voiced his support for the reasoning behind these regulations.
“Without level-playing field laws, we cannot have solid institutions. Without the fundamentals in place at the institutional level, we cannot have healthy flows of capital. Without the proper flow of capital, we cannot have a strong and vibrant market.”
Tom Maxon, CoolBitX Head of U.S.
Maxon made the case that these rules could be good for the market, but that it was still very early, as cryptocurrencies have not even arrived at the point where they’re being widely applied at the institutional level.
This poses a huge risk if the market remains unaware of these rules, so the virtual asset industry needs to proactively think of strategies to get their funds out of their bomb shelter and into a regulated marketplace in the coming years or face the consequences.
Maxon, who was also invited to the Financial Action Task Force’s Private Sector Consultative Forum (PSCF) and the V20 conference in Osaka in 2019, also delved into the Swiss financial intelligence unit FINMA’s recent decision to ban unhosted wallets from interacting with VASPs. According to the CoolBitX U.S. Head, this move by the FIU could conceivably be replicated globally, with severe repercussions for virtual asset owners.
