Despite the huge bets of financial giants like Blackrock, it is still difficult for many investors to take cryptocurrencies seriously. It's not just memes and quirky fans pushing people away.
In 2022, about 8% of U.S. adults call cryptocurrencies the best long-term investment. That number has been cut in half since the crypto exchange FTX crashed.
Now, just a few years later, Crypto Bull Kevin O'Leary said that this shedding is a thing of the past.
"All the crypto cowboys are gone. They are gone. They are all in jail, felony or everything," he told the media in Toronto Consensus Cryptocurrency Conference in Toronto.
"They are the pioneers (but) they have arrows on their backs... They don't play by the rules. The regulator proves who won the fight."
Mr. Qite said he retained nearly 20% of his portfolio for crypto-related assets, including stable shares, tokens and exchanges. His confidence is contagious, but curious investors still have to ask: Did the sun really land in the wild West era?
O'Leary is very familiar with crypto scams. He is a paid spokesman for FTX, who claimed that all the defeats cost him millions of dollars.
“It’s over now and we can move forward and I think everyone understands the potential of this market,” he said.
While O'Leary may not mean to imply that all crypto scams have been completed, he seems to be referring to the embezzlement and fraud of trustworthy companies like FTX - he is optimistic about the impact of the first two bills in Congress.
One of them is the Genius Act, which would require Stablecoin issuers to hold 1:1 cash reserves or other current assets in other protections.
Stablecoins is a cryptocurrency that is usually pegged to other assets, usually in the US dollar. That's why these digital currencies are considered to be more "stable" than other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Supporters like O'Leary believe they will make digital payments faster and cheaper globally.
Another legislation is the Market Infrastructure Act, which defines each asset as a safe or commodities so that the appropriate regulator (Commodity Futures Trading Commission or Securities and Exchange Commission) can oversee it.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong blamed the FTX crash on “the lack of regulatory clarity in the United States” forcing U.S. investors to use Bahamas-based exchanges.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse agrees: “Brian is right – in order to protect consumers, we need to provide regulatory guidance for companies that ensure trust and transparency. There is one reason why most cryptocurrency transactions are offshore – companies have 0 guidance on how to comply in the United States”
But if Congress’ new regulations aren’t strong enough in the end, they may just provide a veneer of legitimacy.
"While a strong stability bill is the best outcome, this weak bill is worse than not at all," Senator Elizabeth Warren said of the Genius Act.
Security also relies on consistent law enforcement, and the Trump administration has made many turbulent changes in its attempt to make the United States "the crypto-capital of the Earth."
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At another crypto conference, Vice President JD Vance recently promised: “We fired Gary Gensler – we will fire everyone like him.”
Gensler, the last chairman of the SEC, worked hard to make investors safer by prosecuting obvious wrongdoing in the absence of laws and regulations on cryptocurrencies.
Under new management, the agency reportedly moved its top crypto litigants to IT departments and has withdrawn cases against several major cryptocurrency companies.
The Justice Department has dissolved its national cryptocurrency law enforcement team and told prosecutors to focus only cryptocurrency investigations on drug cartels and terrorist groups. The Labor Department told employers that they no longer need “extreme care” before considering adding cryptocurrency options to the 401(k) menu. Other regulators, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Company and the Office of the Master Calculator, have also removed encryption guidance.
As advocating lightweight and heavy regulation to push the industry forward in its own way, critics point to the potential dangers of unlocking the cryptocurrency industry to financial stability.
"Stablecoin legislation has the potential to sow the seeds of the financial crisis," said Alexandra Thornton, senior director of financial regulatory policy at the Center for Progress.
Former Bank of England economists Dan Davies and John Hopkins J. Farrell in the New York Times, former Bank of England and John Hopkins J. Farrell, in the Op-Ed op the New York the New York the New York the New York the New York the New York time, former Bank of England and John Hopkins J. Farrell.
"The Genius Act folds stable people directly into the traditional financial system, while adopting weaker safeguards than banks or investment companies must comply," Senator Warren said in a speech in the Senate. "There is no doubt that we will see another financial crisis in the coming years."
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