Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss now believes that the next crypto bull run will start in the east as he felt disappointed about the US regulators’ approach towards the crypto sector.
In a Twitter thread on Sunday, February 19th, Cameron Winklevoss said that the US had only two choices—embrace crypto or be left behind. He wrote:
“My working thesis atm is that the next bull run is going to start in the East. It will be a humbling reminder that crypto is a global asset class and that the West, really the US, always only ever had two options: embrace it or be left behind. It can’t be stopped. That we know.”
Unclear Regulation to Put US on the Backfoot
These comments originate from his deep concerns about the recent increased enforcement activity and US regulators’ looming crackdown on the crypto sector, especially from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the past few weeks, SEC has banned and fined Kraken crypto exchange from offering staking products and, as reported, banned Paxos from minting the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin.
Many affected crypto operators complained that the SEC didn’t provide them with clear rules and regulations on how to operate the banned crypto products. This argument is further cemented by SEC commissioner Hester Peirce who, talking about Kraken’s staking ban, said that it was,
“not an efficient or fair way of regulating” the crypto, and the industry needs clear regulations instead of a “one-off enforcement”.
This situation weighs on Cameron Winklevoss as he believes this will leave out the US as the foundational part of the future financial system. He wrote:
“Any government that doesn’t offer clear rules and sincere guidance will be left in the dust. Quickly. This will mean missing out on the greatest period of growth since the rise of the commercial Internet.”
Cameron is not alone in the industry who feels that current regulatory actions are causing more harm than good. Jake Chervinsky, chief policy officer at Blockchain Association, believes that it is, in fact, a regulatory crackdown.
Regulators were caught off guard by 2022’s unfortunate events, but now they are over-correcting. He said:
“Yes, it’s a regulatory crackdown. The agencies were caught off-guard by FTX and 2022’s other failures, so now they’re overcorrecting with harsh enforcement and restrictive rulemaking. They’re taking their pound of flesh, and it hurts.”
According to him, nothing has been done so far to craft a sound regulatory framework for the crypto industry in the US.
On the other hand, a 2022 IMF report suggests that few parts of the world have embraced crypto assets like Asia during and following the pandemic. India, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia are becoming safe havens for crypto.
