{"id":22335,"date":"2023-06-14T01:51:30","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T05:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/markets\/crypto\/bitcoins-antifragility-will-prevail-amid-regulatory-pressures\/"},"modified":"2023-06-14T01:51:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T05:51:31","slug":"bitcoins-antifragility-will-prevail-amid-regulatory-pressures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=22335","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin’s Antifragility Will Prevail Amid Regulatory Pressures"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Despite the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)\u2019s crackdown against the biggest companies in crypto, one Bitcoin diehard isn’t breaking a sweat.<\/p>\n

Adam Back \u2013 CEO of Blockstream and popular cypherpunk \u2013 believes the crypto industry will simply adapt and relocate if it can\u2019t find a home within the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s a market and there\u2019s a demand,” Back said to Decrypt<\/u> during the BTC Prague conference last weekend. “Once an exchange shuts down or stops servicing one market, people will just move to another exchange, or move to an international exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The SEC filed back-to-back lawsuits against both Binance and Coinbase last week \u2013 two of the world\u2019s largest crypto exchanges by trading volume. Coinbase intends to fight the agency in court and represent the US crypto industry, but has expressed willingness in moving headquarters<\/u> to the U.K. if its efforts fail.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pressure has even forced Binance US to halt<\/u> US dollar deposits to its exchange, as banks begin to distance themselves from the company after the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Back believes interested crypto investors will simply move to other currencies if USD liquidity dries up. Certain crypto-friendly banks in Switzerland and Gibraltar, for instance, will accept deposits in the dollar-pegged USDT stablecoin, and let users buy and sell Bitcoin. \u201cEach problem sort of just moves things around somewhere else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Back\u2019s company is a major participant<\/u> in the Bitcoin mining industry, which relies on energy-intensive computer systems to compete for newly produced Bitcoin (BTC). In 2021, China\u2019s ban on Bitcoin miners had a similar effect to the one Back described, sparking a mass migration of mining power from China to North America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SEC: Bitcoin VS Crypto<\/h2>\n

The SEC has made it difficult to launch a host of crypto-related products, from exchanges, to interest-bearing accounts, to staking-as-a-service. US-based firms frequently trip into regulatory trouble over disagreements on which products and assets constitute securities, which other jurisdictions have been more transparent<\/u> about.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One asset that the SEC has ruled out<\/u> from being a security, however, is Bitcoin. While the Biden administration recommended applying a debilitating excise tax to the mining industry last month, the tax appears to have been taken off the table by Congress as part of debt-ceiling negotiations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite being a cypherpunk, Back has shown agreement with securities laws as an \u201cethical concept,\u201d and criticized the seignorage characteristic of many non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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