Not long ago, Wyoming senator Cynthia Lummis submitted a new bill she had co-written with democrat senator of New York Kristen Gillibrand. The bill is designed to shape the future of crypto regulation by setting rules for how future digital currency regulatory bills are written. It also seeks to invoke certain protections without limiting innovation.
Lummis Crypto Bill Takes Flak Online
As a means of garnering more attention and publicity for the bill, Lummis decided to post it on GitHub. Sadly, the move is leading to online backlash as several people have taken to the site to troll what they consider a standard or mediocre bill that lacks specific details.
Crypto regulation has always been a two-sided coin (pun intended). There are several arguments for it, but there are also several against it. Some believe that unless some form of regulation exists, the crypto space is always going to be volatile and unpredictable. In addition, they believe there will always be crime, fraud, and cyberattacks traders and investors need to worry about. With some form of government oversight in play, perhaps these incidents can be lessened.
At the same time, regulation ultimately goes against the very notions of crypto when it was first introduced through the bitcoin whitepaper roughly 14 years ago. The digital currency space is designed to give all players full autonomy and independence from third parties, prying eyes, and other tactics often employed by standard financial institutions. It’s allegedly a decentralized space, and with regulation in the works, this could somehow be diminished.
In a recent tweet, Lummis explained:
As promised, you can now contribute comments on my bill establishing a framework for digital assets with [Sen. Gillibrand]. Civil comments and criticisms welcome. Please share widely. We want to get this right. Help us iterate publicly on policy.
One of the great things about GitHub is that it allows the public to comment on things they might find important. They can suggest additions and revisions to documents or items like the bill in question, and the original creators can take those criticisms to heart and work them into the final documents if they so choose.
But not everyone is happy about what the bill presents, with one user commenting:
This bill would do far more to benefit everyday Americans if its text was replaced with the source code of Doom. Devs should merge asap.
The Growth of the Space
Not long ago, Kristen Gillibrand offered the following statement:
Digital assets, blockchain technology, and cryptocurrencies have experienced tremendous growth in the past few years and offer substantial potential benefits if harnessed correctly. It is critical that the United States play a leading role in developing policy to regulate new financial products while also encouraging innovation and protecting consumers.
