Stake General Counsel: It would be “unwise” to ignore crypto
Stake General Counsel Jeremiah Ooi has warned it would be “unwise” to ignore the significance of cryptocurrency, amid a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.
Speaking at ICE Barcelona on Monday afternoon, the crypto casino’s in-house lawyer revealed that stablecoins – crypto pegged to the value of a fiat currency or a commodity – are among the top 20 of U.S. Treasury securities. “There are only 20 countries in the world that hold more than stablecoins,” Ooi said.
He also pointed to changes at the top of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where former Chair Gary Gensler is expected to be replaced by erstwhile SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, a vocal crypto advocate.
By contrast, Gensler had been tough on crypto firms, overseeing enforcement action and litigation against big names such as Ripple, Coinbase and Binance.
While the approach may be changing in the SEC, the growing regulatory efforts to understand crypto make it a force to be reckoned with, according to Ooi, who also highlighted the European Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, which brings greater transparency and disclosure requirements and introduces consumer protection rules.
“Even if you don’t like it, even if you don’t want to embrace it, the reality is the economy, the world, numbers, all point towards the significance of it,” Ooi said. “I think to completely ignore it would be quite unwise. I think we all need to at least get a decent enough understanding, whether or not your business, or your own investment portfolio, touches on it.”
In a quick audience poll, Ooi discovered that while 54% of the audience said they held crypto, just 33% described themselves as knowledgeable about cryptocurrency.
Describing the immutable records created by the blockchain-based distributed ledgers that handle crypto transactions, Ooi said the technology had the potential to improve know-your-customer procedures around transactions and source of funds, as well improving anti-money laundering and responsible gambling measures.
However, Ooi did not downplay the challenges admitting that with “great power comes great responsibility” and acknowledging that significant resources are required to manage the amount of data generated by blockchain ledgers.
“In a world where such information does not exist, then there will be no expectation or even obligation for anyone to do anything,” he said. But, he added, in businesses that do use crypto and blockchain “because this information exists, we have a responsibility… not only a legal one, but even a moral responsibility, to take on the right amount of resources and make the right decisions to be able to deal with this glut of information.”
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