Novogratz hopes Biden admin reverses Trump’s anti-crypto stance

The United States is in desperate need of open-minded cryptocurrency regulations from the incoming Biden administration, according to Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz. 

Appearing in a Thursday segment of CNBC’s Sqwuak Box, Novogratz said the Bitcoin (BTC) bull market has proven resilient to the recent wave of anti-crypto rhetoric coming from Capitol Hill:

“It tells you about how powerful this bull market is […] They are throwing lots at the system, and it’s not actually impacting it.”

Nevertheless, for the cryptocurrency industry to truly succeed in the long run, more regulatory clarity is needed. Referring to the incoming Biden administration, Novogratz said:

“I’m hoping, you know — we get a change of the guard in 20 days — I’m hoping we can get some more open-minded regulators.”

President Trump’s departure from the White House is proving to be a rocky period for the cryptocurrency industry. Last week, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed new disclosure rules for self-hosted wallets.

In a sign that the Treasury was trying to jam legislation through, it provided only a 15-day comment period, which is much shorter than the typical 60-day period.

In another blow to some industry participants, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, is suing Ripple for allegedly selling an unregistered security in the form of XRP tokens. The securities regulator made its case in a painstakingly detailed 71-page takedown of Ripple released earlier this week.

The 70-page SEC complaint against #Ripple is a teardown of breathtaking detail and scope. It’s not a petty or vindictive gesture: it’s a well-researched and well-articulated document that alleges a scheme of epic proportions.

You should read it. https://t.co/CCoykYk317 pic.twitter.com/oArxi3y3bo

— Jon Rice (@JonRiceCrypto) December 22, 2020

Novogratz and others believe that archaic cryptocurrency laws will hinder innovation and adoption in the United States, paving the way for rivals like China to dominate the market. Ironically, this is one of the arguments being used by Ripple to counter the SEC’s lawsuit.

In his interview with CNBC, Novogratz said stubborn crypto laws have “a lot of unintended consequences,” adding that, “it’s going to push a lot of the cool stuff that’s happening in crypto offshore.”