SEC lawsuit accelerates cryptocurrency companies’ departure from the United States | CoinDesk JAPAN | CoinDesk Japan

Some industry experts believe the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent In the long term, the measures could bring regulatory clarity and benefit companies doing business in the United States. But in the short to medium term, these companies may be forced to focus their efforts elsewhere.

“Regulatory pressure will motivate exchanges to move overseas, especially in the digital asset industry, where they can move more easily because they don’t have factories to move,” said the head of cryptocurrency infrastructure company Fireblocks. Legal and Compliance Officer Jason Allegrante said.

Accelerating departure from America

Coinbase recently announced that it has obtained a license to operate in Bermuda. It is reportedly planning to set up a crypto asset trading platform for the rest of the world.

“I think we’re going to see more and more of this,” said Andrew Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of Censo, a provider of on-chain custody solutions.

“It is true that the United States is the largest market, but those developing in the cryptocurrency industry are looking at the future market size, not the current market size, and people think that the future picture in the United States is not good.”

Ben Caselin, vice president and chief strategy officer at cryptocurrency exchange MaskEX, agrees.

“All the attention is now on other jurisdictions. It’s not the best time for US crypto startups. You can and should, but entrepreneurs and small businesses are probably better off in other jurisdictions.”

Focus on America

SEC Chairman Gensler, on the other hand, seemed less concerned about the prospect of crypto firms leaving the United States. “We don’t need a digital currency…we already have a digital currency. It’s called the US dollar,” Gensler said on Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.

Fireblocks’ Allegrante believes that even if the US is the most profitable market for some exchanges, that may not be enough reason to focus all efforts.

“If a company goes public with its plans to open an exchange outside the US, we can assume that there are plans to shift that balance over time,” he said of Coinbase.

However, the US market cannot be ignored so easily.

“The US market was supposed to bring the next big wave of interest in crypto assets, so it will be difficult to abandon it completely,” said Edward Moya, senior analyst at Oanda. .

Even after the SEC warned Coinbase of possible law enforcement in March, CEO Brian Armstrong said Coinbase was “100% committed to America.” And he said he would continue to focus on his U.S. business following the lawsuit.

｜Translation: coindesk JAPAN
｜Editing: Takayuki Masuda
｜Image: Shutterstock
｜Original: SEC’s Latest Crackdown Could Drive Crypto Firms Out of the US