“In order to regulate technology effectively, our government needs to understand it. It’s embarrassing to see the ignorance some members of Congress display when talking about technology, and anyone who watched Congress question Mark Zuckerberg is well aware of this”, said the 2020 US Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang.
In his latest blog post titled, ‘Regulating Technology Firms in the 21st Century’, Yang wrote that the government needs to be forward-thinking and informed on the latest technological developments to keep pace with innovation. He added that without a base level of understanding, it’s unreasonable to expect proper regulation of major tech firms or the drafting of legislation that addresses the critical technical issues.
According to the Democratic Candidate, legislators are blind to, or completely unprepared to comprehend technical aspects of the cryptocurrency industry and due to the unregulated nature, the marketplace has seen levels of fraud. He further said,
” Other countries, which are ahead of us on regulation, are leading in this new marketplace and dictating the rules that we’ll need to follow once we catch up… Cryptocurrencies and digital assets have quickly grown to represent a large amount of value and economic activity, outstripping government’s response. A national framework for regulating these assets has failed to emerge, with several federal agencies claiming conflicting jurisdiction.”
Yang also emphasized that the market is being outpaced by innovation. If he wins the 2020 Presidential Election, Yang promised to promote legislation that provides clarity on cryptocurrency and digital asset market space by defining a ‘token’ and distinguishing ‘security’ from it. Yang affirmed that he will define which federal agencies have regulatory power over crypto/digital assets space and provide protection for the consumers. Additionally, tax implications of owning, selling, and trading digital assets will also be clarified.
