The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said this week that cryptocurrency is a generational interest and that regulators need to treat it with respect, Reuters reported.
J. Christopher Giancarlo, shared his thoughts on cryptocurrency regulation at the Milken Institute Global Conference, which took place in Los Angeles this week.
“We need to take a moment and respect this generation’s interest in this new instrument (bitcoin),” Giancarlo said. “Not with derision, but with a little bit of attention and respect and respond with policy initiatives that really are thoughtful and forward looking.”
Giancarlo has previously stated he will retire after his five-year term ends next April and President Trump appoints a successor to his seat. Giancarlo compared consumer interest in Bitcoin to the “cultural change” that the baby boomers instituted when they arrived on the scene in the mid-20th century.
He explained that younger investors have much less respect for mainstream financial institutions due to growing up amidst the financial crisis and said that they see Bitcoin as a way to remove these middlemen from the financial system.
“There is something going on here that is generational. Just as the baby boomer generation lost faith in the leaders that came before them and tried to seek a cultural change in those days through sex, drugs and rock and roll, I think there is a generation that also has lost faith in us that led them through the financial crisis and they see technology as a way of disintermediating institutions for which they don’t have a great deal of respect.
Giancarlo has issued similar statements about cryptocurrency investors on multiple occasions, beginning with his remarks before a Senate committee hearing earlier this year.
Giancarlo’s heartfelt opening statement on cryptocurrency at that hearing earned him the nickname “Cryptodad.” Since then he has taken to using the hashtag #cryptodad when he tweets about cryptocurrency embracing the moniker.
Giancarlo has also expressed the need to move slowly with any federal regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges noting that they should be “carefully tailored” to specific risks such as fraud and market manipulation and should strive to “do no harm” to the emerging digital ledger technology (DLT) space.
“Appropriate federal oversight may include: data reporting, capital requirements, cyber security standards, measures to prevent fraud and price manipulation and anti-money laundering and ‘know your customer’ protections,” he will testify. “Overall, a rationalized federal framework may be more effective and efficient in ensuring the integrity of the underlying market.”
Earlier this week, Giancarlo said that Bitcoin was “like gold” in several respects, even though it is perhaps not ideal as a medium of exchange. He further expanded stating Bitcoin has elements of all of the different asset classes, CNBC reported.
Bitcoin is currently trading at [FIAT: $9,445.76] according to Coin Market Cap at the time of this report.
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