A commissioner at the US SEC, Hester Peirce, nicknamed by the crypto community as “crypto mom”, was recently asked if she believes there is a chance for the Biden administration to ban Bitcoin.
As new crypto regulations were announced, investors are worried the government could ban crypto – Bitcoin included. Some investors, such as Ray Dalio, Ron Paul, and Michael Burry, have warned that crypto could be banned if the government feels it becomes a risk for their financial system.
Peirce is pro-Bitcoin and is known to advocate for the SEC to approve Bitcoin ETFs. When asked if Bitcoin could be banned in the US, she replied:
“I think it’s very difficult to ban something that’s essentially a peer-to-peer technology. I think the goal, as with any technology, is to prevent people from using it for illicit purposes and only allow them to use it for legal purposes. That’s what I expect to happen.”
In the past, Peirce declared that the government would be “foolish” to try and ban Bitcoin, saying it would be similar to shutting down the Internet.
Indeed, the US government is worried that crypto is being used for illegal activities, with Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, declaring several times that crypto is used mainly in illegal financing.
But the SEC has a new chairman, Gary Gensler, who is known for his crypto knowledge, having taught classes on this subject at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is expected that he will impose several crypto regulations.
Asked if SEC may approve a Bitcoin ETF in 2021, Peirce declared: “With the new chairman, we will be able to take a fresh look at some of the reasoning that we used to deny bitcoin exchange-traded products in the past. Frankly, Canada is ahead of us now. Not only they have Bitcoin exchange-traded products, but they also have exchange-traded products based on Ether.”
Source: News.bitcoin.com