That was enough year for the crypto industry. From funding shortages to the SBF saga playing out publicly, the industry and its supporters have had a frantic year, especially with cryptocurrency prices fluctuating more than London weather in April.
However, cryptocurrency regulation and how it is regulated to be implemented has been at the forefront of everyone’s mind in the crypto industry. And even though 2024 is set to distract everyone with the Presidential election, many in the crypto industry hope that clearer guidelines will be set in the coming months.
“2023 certainly had some controversy, although in many ways it was a lull from the crypto winter and the hangover from the 2022 FTX and LUNA crash,” said Jack Vinijtrongjit, co-founder and CEO of web3 infrastructure firm AAG . TechCrunch+.
Several major scandals rocked the industry in 2022, and as a result, this year we got front-row seats to the US government’s response. This month alone has been intense for the crypto industry: In early November, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven counts of fraud, and then last week, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao , resigned after resigning over a series of charges. by various US agencies for not cooperating with the laws of the country.
But the rest of the industry “doesn’t have to suffer because of it [Bankman-Fried] has been convicted,” said Anthony Sabino, a law professor at the Peter J. Tobin College of Business at the University of St. John’s. The actions of the former FTX CEO should not hold the industry responsible, Sabino said, but he acknowledged that the series of events that led to FTX’s bankruptcy would have resulted in regulators wanting to block the next SBF and prevent other bad factors.
“In the long run, catching and punishing bad actors is good for an industry, including blockchain,” said Adam Ettinger, partner at law firm FisherBroyles. “In the short term, no one wants to go to Thanksgiving dinner and have to explain how their startup is nothing like Celsius or FTX.”
However, the industry wants the government and regulators to be more clear about regulation and set specific rules.
Mixed messages
“This year, we heard persistent and pervasive messages from the government, but the messages were mixed,” Ettinger said. “On the one hand, the SEC brought 26 enforcement actions involving digital assets. On the other hand, we have members of Congress who understand the importance of blockchain innovation and are pushing to regulate the technology in a way that won’t stifle our entrepreneurs or send them overseas.”
