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Gensler and the SEC are living in the past

Stefan Rust, CEO of blockchain development house Laguna Labs, says:
“The reaction of some of the great and good in the traditional finance sector to last week’s Ethereum merge is testament to the stultified situation in which we now find ourselves in the developed world.
Rather than welcome what is sure to be one of the greatest technological innovations of our age – an event that will see “the world’s computer“ cut its carbon emissions by 99% and become a truly viable solution for the future of the global Web3 economy – they tore it down.
Gary Gensler, Chairman of the SEC was first to squash any enthusiasm for this momentous occasion by suggesting that Ethereum’s new Proof of Stake token could be considered a security. Ignoring, or perhaps not understanding, the enormous global community that operates this network and the interplay of staking and node operation, instead he focused on the potential to generate profit from staking ETH to argue it is a security.
While unsurprising considering the adversarial position cryptocurrency and traditional finance frequently take with each other, this remains disappointing. There are few that would argue against the enormous potential that blockchain technology presents. These same people may have different opinions on the “pump and dump” culture in some corners of the token economy, but the technology remains an abundant prospect.
It speaks much to the threat that is clearly perceived by these people from blockchain and cryptocurrency. Or perhaps more than this, it speaks to the inability of these figures to understand the significance of this technology.
These are people who were raised in a very different age, with very different ideas and who are struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation now facing them. They are keen to put old terms and rules on new technology that simply doesn’t serve it or them.
This is evident in the ongoing battle between Ripple and the SEC, where much now rests on the definition of a security – for both sides. Should XRP come to be labelled a security, crypto will fall under the SEC’s jurisdiction and this would mean an unfathomable outlay in money, time and resources. And so we have a Mexican stand-off in which neither party dare blink.
The pace of innovation happening in the blockchain and crypto sector will not slow; indeed, technological adoption only gets faster. And so, the longer figures like Gary Gensler drag their feet in a combination of fear and ignorance, the more dangerous this is for the economies that they oversee.
Many parts of the world, especially the developing world, are embracing blockchain and cryptocurrency, while many Western economies are still refusing. Keen to hold onto the financial and political power they have carefully built up over hundreds of years of domination, they are resisting change.
This is not, however, prudent. Those that resist change eventually get left behind, and if Gary Gensler, Christine Lagarde, et al. do not keep up and join in this change, this could have damaging effects on Western economies for decades to come.”
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