Square, Paradigm, Fidelity, and Coinbase Establish Crypto Council to Lobby Regulators
Nicholas Otieno Apr 07, 2021 10:00
The new cryptocurrency council aims to serve as the growing industry’s voice to advocate for the economic and social benefits of crypto assets and related technologies.
Crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, Square, Fidelity Investments, and Coinbase crypto exchange have established a new cryptocurrency council to lobby policymakers to support the rapidly growing crypto industry.
The aim of the newly formed trade group “The Crypto Council for Innovation” is to ensure that policymakers understand the significance of the crypto innovation and develop favourable regulations that would enable the industry to thrive.
“The Crypto Council for Innovation” aims to shape the manner in which crypto assets are regulated and it seeks to demonstrate the "transformational promise of crypto and communicate its benefits to policymakers, regulators, and people around the globe."
Fred Ehrsam, the co-founder of Paradigm investment firm told The Wall Street Journal that “cryptocurrency is at mainstream inflection point."
He further added:
"It's in its very early stages and, much like the internet (once was), it's very fragile while it's in that stage. It's challenging because policy makers want to balance risk and reward, and even people who spend time in this space would struggle to predict where this will go in the coming decade. It was very hard to say where the internet was going to go."
The council is planning to assemble a board of representatives from each of the four initial members. The council will also create an executive team.
Cryptocurrencies Helping Global Economy
The formation of the crypto council comes at a time when prices of several cryptocurrencies have risen, attracting interest from mainstream investors as well as brokers and banks which serve them. At the beginning of this year, the total market capitalization of Bitcoin climbed to $1 trillion for the first time.
Cryptocurrency is a new industry as many people are still not sold on the market’s future. Crypto evangelists claim that crypto assets and blockchain technology have the capacity for job creation and extension of financial services to consumers living anywhere across the globe at little to no cost.
Cryptocurrencies have the potential to enable economic and social growth throughout the world, including in developing nations, by providing easier access to capital and financial services. Therefore, regulators and policymakers across the globe will play a prominent role in shaping the future of crypto assets.
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