Project investor Chamath Palihapitiya, who once believed that Bitcoin had “effectively replaced gold,” thought now that “cryptocurrency is dead in America” due to US regulatory pressure on the sector.
Palihapitiya said on an episode of All in The podcast, which he co-hosts, Released on Saturday.
The investor said that while cryptocurrency companies were “perhaps the most threatening to the enterprise,” the sector has also pushed “the boundaries more than any other sector of the startup economy.”
The cryptocurrency industry has been accusing the Securities and Exchange Commission and its chairman, Gary Gensler, of “regulating through enforcement,” or filing lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies instead of establishing a clear regulatory framework.
“He made Gensler blame cryptocurrency for the banking crisis,” Palihapitiya complained. The chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) highlighted two failed crypto-friendly banks, Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank of New York, in congressional remarks on the crisis.
The pressure on cryptocurrency exchanges is encouraging some companies to look outside the US Coinbase which announced last week that Bermuda had granted the company a license to operate in the region, in what is likely to be the first step towards launching a new offshore exchange.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are also considering the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong, whose government is embracing digital assets and cryptocurrencies as a way to revive its status as an international financial hub. The city’s financial regulators have them Suggested rules To allow retail digital asset trading, and it helps communicate Crypto companies with banks.
This is leading some crypto companies to move their operations in Asia to Hong Kong. At a congressional hearing last week, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) Accused Gensler for “doing nothing to protect ordinary Americans and driving American companies into the hands of (the Chinese Communist Party)”. (Cryptocurrency trading is still banned in mainland China, unlike semi-autonomous Hong Kong.)
On Monday, Coinbase filed a lawsuit to force the Securities and Exchange Commission to respond to the exchange’s petition seeking rulemaking, which was filed last July. “Because we are so convinced that the SEC is in violation of the law, we feel we have no choice but to take them to court,” said Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer. luck. Coinbase also received a Wells Notice, which notifies the company of impending legal action, from the SEC on March 22.
Palihaptiya suggested on Saturday that Coinbase was a company that “tried to do the right things” when it came to working with regulators.
not exactly $200,000 any more
Palihapitiya used to be very bullish on Bitcoin CNBC In 2021, expect Bitcoin to eventually reach $200,000. The value of the cryptocurrency was around $39,000 at the time.
Bitcoin eventually peaked at around $69,000 in November 2021, before plummeting in value in 2022 after several high-profile cryptocurrency scandals and interest rate increases by the US Federal Reserve. The price of the cryptocurrency fell to around $15,500 in December 2022, and has since rebounded to range between $27,000 and $30,000.
The rise in interest rates has also affected other investments of Palihapitiya. The investor was known for taking startups like space tourism provider Virgin Galactic and real estate platform Opendoor into the public markets through special purpose acquisition companies. SPACs, sometimes known as blank check companies, are public companies created for the purpose of acquiring a privately held company, which inherits listing.
Palihapitiya is closed Two of his SPACs Last September after failing to acquire a company to go public. Palihapitiya wrote to Social Capital Partners Limited in beginning of apriland continuing that last year was like ‘throwing cold water in our faces.
However, some bullish bets on Bitcoin are re-emerging. On Monday, Standard Chartered’s Head of Digital Asset Research Proposal that the cryptocurrency could reach $100,000 by the end of 2024, indicating an end to raising interest rates in the wake of the banking crisis in the United States.
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