I’m not an old man, but when it comes to crypto, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve been involved with cryptocurrencies since 2010 and have taught a course on digital currencies at NYU for nearly a decade. Over that time, I’ve seen booms and busts, scandals and arrests, and an ever-rotating cast of crypto heroes and villains. Bitcoin is now at an all-time high—$120,000 as of this writing—but price isn’t the real story. The real story is that bitcoin changed the nature of money forever.
None of the wild stories—from the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried to the shutdown of drug market Silk Road—alter the fundamental dynamics that have been in place since the birth of crypto on January 3, 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin network. In a society that was trending toward more central control, and less freedom and privacy, the invention of bitcoin gave birth to a new era of financial freedom in this country.
But this year will be different. That’s because the federal government is poised, for the first time, to enact broad legislation that deals exclusively with crypto. And that watershed moment could come as soon as this week, which Republicans have dubbed “Crypto Week” in the House of Representatives.
Lawmakers are set to vote on three bills (one already passed by the Senate) that deal exclusively with crypto. The bills address three subjects—stablecoins, regulatory jurisdiction over crypto assets, and a central bank digital currency ban. These are important subjects for legislation, and lots will be written about the details of each, but the big picture is this: In its first comprehensive approach to private digital currency, the U.S. federal government is looking for ways to support, not outlaw, the technology. This is truly remarkable. Many of us remember when Senator Chuck Schumer was calling for bitcoin to be shut down in 2011 because it was used for drug transactions.
If these bills become law, it would be the fulfillment of a promise: President Trump campaigned on, and is governing as, the heir to the crypto revolution. As many of his political opponents love pointing out, he is doing so as his family gets more involved in the industry. And while true conflicts of interest and impropriety deserve scrutiny, nothing of actual substance has been leveled at the president. Focus on this part of the story risks obscuring the extraordinary change now underway.
