POTUS Candidate Yang Says Better Crypto Regulation Is Needed

In the middle of 2019, President Donald Trump shocked the crypto world by issuing a few tweets.

He wrote in a surprise Twitter thread that he is “not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies,” calling them non-money and assets that have a volatile, baseless valuation.

He added that “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you see it, Trump’s tweet did not create a deluge of crypto commentary from his contemporaries in politics, though some have issued comments, albeit very few. I

t isn’t clear why this is — maybe they don’t see crypto as a threat or opportunity, or they think that regulation is good as it is.

But the lack of crypto in politics is changing. Just the other day, Democrat Andrew Yang, a businessman running for the seat of President of the United States, talked Bitcoin and cryptocurrency with Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal.

The U.S. Needs Concrete Crypto Regulation, Andrew Yang Says

If you’ve followed this industry’s new cycle at all over the past few years, you know how bizarre crypto regulation is; in the U.S., each state has different laws as to cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers — some firms can offer services in one state, but not the other.

The biggest discrepancy between states is in New York, which has the most stringent regulation of Bitcoin companies, for the state has a so-called Bitlicense that is especially hard to obtain.

According to Andrew Yang, a Democratic candidate that is fourth or fifth on the left side of the aisle (depending on which polls you consult), the discrepancy in the regulation of cryptocurrency between states is hampering innovation.

Yang touted this opinion during an interview with Bloomberg. Speaking with the outlet Wednesday, the candidate said that he thinks we need a “uniform set of rules and regulations around cryptocurrency use nationwide,” claiming that the “hodgepodge” of state-by-state treatment is “bad for everybody.”

He continued:

“It’s bad for innovators who want to invest in this space. So that would be my priority: clear and transparent rules so everyone knows where they can head in the future and so we can maintain competitiveness [in crypto].”

This isn’t an unpopular opinion; a number of people in the cryptocurrency industry have said that if the U.S. wants to maintain its position as the tech capital of the world, it should make sure that innovators have more flexibility in working with digital assets and blockchain.

Yang Is a Fan Of Bitcoin (Blockchain Too)

That’s wasn’t all he had to say on cryptocurrency. In the same Bloomberg interview, Yang said that the aforementioned uniform regulation is needed due to the “high potential” of cryptocurrency and the “technology underlying this,” evidently making a reference to blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

He went as far as to say that regulation will not “impede” cryptocurrency, effectively stating that Bitcoin is impossible to stop.

His liking for the cryptocurrency isn’t a new trend. Over the past few months, Yang has dropped the Bitcoin bomb, so to say, on multiple occasions.

In a policy posted to his website, he said that blockchain voting is needed, writing:

 “It’s ridiculous that in 2020 we are still standing in line for hours to vote in antiquated voting booths.”

Also, per previous reports from Blockonomi, he told Youtuber Ryan Higa that he has “many friends” in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, having worked in a tech-centric and entrepreneurial environment for a good part of his life.

Indeed, there is an image circulating the web of Yang standing beside Charlie Lee, the creator of Litecoin.

Yang added that the promise of cryptocurrencies is starting to be realized.

1,820