The United States leads the world in almost all sectors, but many argue that it hasn’t really picked up the pace when it comes to cryptocurrencies. The fact that major cryptocurrency exchanges are based out of the U.S may just be evidence to support this statement.
That said, Bitcoin, in recent times, has been shrouded in uncertainty and surrounded by legal conundrums across the globe. For instance, President Trump’s administration has taken an aggressive approach towards crypto-markets lately, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stating that “significant” new Bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulations are on their way.
In fact, just recently, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari called cryptocurrencies “a giant garbage dumpster” and the Department of Justice called Bitcoin mixing “a crime.”
On a recent podcast, Wyoming-based blockchain expert Caitlin Long spoke about regulations around cryptocurrencies in the U.S, Wyoming’s progression in the area, and more.
Long started off by saying that the federal government is not moving in the right direction regarding digital assets, noting that though Wyoming has the right facilities, it can only enjoy it within the state.
Expanding further, she stated,
“I still do have to pay federal taxes. People just don’t have to pay state income, property or sales taxes on crypto within the state of Wyoming. So yeah, there’s not much positive movement. I mean Washington is just paralyzed and it’s really frustrating to me watching what President Trump has done in so many other industries and yet in the financial sector is going in the opposite direction going in the wrong direction.”
The U.S state of Wyoming has been surprisingly progressive when it comes to blockchain and crypto. Wyoming introduced regulations for crypto-custody platforms back in November 2019. These regulations were opt-in and covered areas like forks, airdrops, and staking, and were applicable to banks offering digital asset custodial services.
Moving on, Long was asked – “You might be making a lot of money in the short term, but once Bitcoin gets big, the government is going to criminalize it and they’re going to ban the crypto exchanges which will result in the price experiencing a huge fall. What then?”
Responding to this question, Long asserted that it is not possible for a government ban of Bitcoin to be effective, noting that if at all the U.S government were to ban exchanges, Bitcoin would still continue to operate.
That said, she also noted that the tax situation in the U.S would continue to frustrate those who own crypto.
“Every time we use crypto to pay for a cup of coffee, we’ve got to record it as a capital gain or a loss and also the financial institutions that interact with crypto are going to obviously have to comply with some pretty strong regulations as well. That’s the attack vector I think is in regulation and tax as opposed to an outright ban.”
