As the presidential race heats up, prices, investment interest and even TradFi are also heating up – and in a big way. Bitcoin is approaching new all-time highs, and that has meant excitement across the board for bitcoin itself and the related products and investments like spot ETFs. These developments have also attracted interest to other areas of cryptocurrency, including NFTs. It is possible to play Ubisoft’s blockchain game Champions Tactics and buy NFTs from around $7 to $63,000 each. Meanwhile, crypto has shown up in the mainstream payments space, with companies like Stripe and PayPal accepting cryptocurrency payments and transfers, or transfers of payments via stablecoins. Visa also allows you to pay with crypto at more merchants and then cash out those funds into your Coinbase account, while PayPal allows users to withdraw their holdings from that platform.
The recent flood of integration into the TradFi system, while easing the concerns of investors and giving mainstream legitimacy to the crypto space, further solidifies the decentralising spirit of crypto to its antithesis or collapse. Meanwhile, the culture of wait and react, with the Biden administration pushing strict tax treatments and the perils of SEC activity, all further complicate the full embrace and nascent evolution of crypto through mainstream financial avenues. The hesitancy of US regulators to fully engage, coupled with the likelihood of a drawn-out legislative process, only compound the ongoing hurdles faced by crypto entrepreneurs and advocates in campaigning for policy changes.
However, in the long run, as crypto continues to grow and become more embedded in legacy financial structures, leaders and stakeholders in the crypto industry will have to consider how to navigate these regulatory and institutionalisation challenges. Balancing innovation and institutional imperatives of large traditional financial entities, and navigating a sluggish regulatory landscape, will be key aspects of achieving growth and establishing a framework for crypto that is conducive to its long-term growth and success.
Source: Forbes
