Whether you are brand new to cryptocurrency or have been involved for a while, you will be bombarded with both hype, FOMO(fear of missing out), and FUD(fear, uncertainty, and doubt).
Many times this FUD will be driven by mainstream media, central banks, and government officials. In this How To Crypto report, we will talk about the need for adoption and also how government regulations can either drive innovation further along or can stifle innovation.
Just this past week in the USA, lawmakers pushed through a $1.2 trillion bill called the Infrastructure bill. This bill is a perfect example of how many government officials, not just in the USA but around the world, have been using unethical techniques to pass new laws and bills that can adversely affect their people. The reason we are talking about it in a crypto blog is because this time, it has impacted crypto. Senator Ted Cruz, who was against the bill, said “This infrastructure bill has in it a portion that is designed to obliterate crypto.
That would be a tragic mistake.” To be clear, what we want to point out is his sentiment around the bill being bad. It will not obliterate crypto. However, it will obliterate the USA’s opportunity to benefit from growing adoption and innovation. The bill in itself is written by aging lawmakers who have little to no understanding of how cryptocurrency even works.
It is hard to make effective legislation when you don’t understand what you are trying to regulate. It is a desperate attempt to try to cash in and tax users of cryptocurrency, but it sets an impossible task at the feet of what they define as ‘brokers.’ The vague definition could make software developers, miners, wallet providers, node operators, and others have to try and comply with laws that will be impossible to follow due to the decentralized nature of the networks. Future developments of blockchain technology will move offshore and to other countries with more favorable laws. How did Bitcoin and the market in general respond to this negative legislation? The market values went up.
This is for 2 reasons. One is that this ridiculous legislation further highlighted the need for cryptocurrency, decentralized technologies, and transparent oversight that the cryptocurrency industry can provide in a better manner than a legislative body where the average age of lawmakers is 70+. The other reason which we’ll explore further below and is the point we really want to drive home with this blog is that innovation will always find a way to thrive. Adoption is inevitable when better technology is driving innovation. No amount of biased laws can stop it.
To see examples of this, we just need to look at history. One example that was given by Andreas Antonopolous in a speech I watched several years ago, he gave the example of the automobile, and automobile adoption. Today, we would think that automobiles were welcomed with open arms by the world.
But in reality, you had many who were fearful and skeptical of it. Many called them deathtraps that will either strand you on the side of the road or will kill you. Plus many asked why it was even needed since they had perfectly fine horses and buggies. After all, when automobiles came out, there was no infrastructure for them, i.e. paved roads. Narrative sounds familiar to cryptocurrency?
Now many visionaries who saw the potential pushed for adoption and infrastructure. But in the UK, very restrictive laws were passed that in essence, stifled innovation. A law was passed that said to operate an automobile, you need to have 3 people, a driver, a spotter(to help the driver watch the surroundings), and a flagman, who had to walk in front of an automobile with a flag and warn people that a car was coming. As you can imagine, this stifled innovation so all the major companies avoided the UK and the UK missed out on all the benefits that came from this growing industry. Of course, eventually these laws were changed, but the damage had been done.
The point of this history lesson is that legislation that stifles innovation does not hurt the industry. It hurts the people that live in those jurisdictions. Innovation and revolutionary technology will always find a way to push forward and succeed. It is important that whether you are a big believer in the cryptocurrency movement or just trying to learn the basics, if your legislators are elected officials, you need to make sure your voice is heard that we should not stifle innovation and there is way more benefits to being open and accepting to innovative technologies.
Now this is why this is so important. Adoption of cryptocurrency for many of us is about the freedom to choose and transact whenever, wherever, and with whomever we choose. Many areas of the world are in desperate need of what cryptocurrency adoption can offer. For us, it is not a necessity...YET. But for many, it can be a matter of survival. Whether their country has experienced hyperinflation which caused their government issued currency to collapse, leaving everyone struggling to survive, or in areas where restrictive governments control every aspect of how and when people can access and spend their money, every step forward in cryptocurrency adoption anywhere in the world can help to positively impact those people’s lives.
Plus there are billions of people in the world who have little to no access to financial institutions and financial markets. Cryptocurrency adoption can fix that and we have no idea the amount of positive impact that can have on innovation, and on global economies. Many great ideas and inventions die in the mind of the creator due to lack of resources to bring it to market. Cryptocurrency and blockchain systems that are open to everyone provide an avenue for those ideas to become reality.
It is up to all of us to help others understand more about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology so that there are more people on the side of adoption and innovation. If you have lawmakers that are pushing for restrictive laws around a technology they do not understand, make sure you let them know how you feel, and even share our How To Crypto blogs with them to help them get a better understanding.
Everyone reading this can play an important role in driving adoption and innovation through education which can help us impact the world. If you have learned anything from our School section or How To Crypto blogs, make sure you share it with as many people as you can as we will need the world on our side as those who do not understand cryptocurrency or feel threatened by it try to attack it. It’s time to take a stand for freedom, inclusion, and innovation as the world needs what cryptocurrency and blockchain can offer.
Content written by Blockchain Wayne and NewsCrypto Team
