First Country to Embrace Bitcoin Will Have Significant Advantage: Anthony Pompliano

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Anthony Pompliano thinks it’s all about game theory.

Pompliano, a co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital, spoke with CNBC’s Squawk Box about his opinions on the future of international cryptocurrency regulations.

“The important part is that the countries that embrace this first are going to have a significant advantage moving forward. The game theory is that some country is going to embrace this in a very serious, serious way, whether it’s China, Russia, the United States, somewhere in Europe or South America – somebody’s going to do it…

You can’t stop it, right? So, the second that a country starts to adopt it, every other country is going to end up playing catch-up.”

Which country will embrace Bitcoin first?? 👀

Had fun on @SquawkCNBC with @andrewrsorkin @MelissaLeeCNBC @JoeSquawk @Melt_Dem and @elerianm this morning. Give them each a follow! pic.twitter.com/Ic3XD5osIe

— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) July 30, 2019

The outspoken Bitcoin bull points to Singapore as the shining example of what he expects more countries to do.

“Look at Singapore – Singapore’s saying, ‘Look, bring it on. We’re going to provide rules, we’re going to give you clarity, and we want these companies here. We want the innovation, we want the entrepreneurs to come in.’ There’s a way to create rules that are fair.”

Earlier this month, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) published a draft guide explaining that cryptocurrencies used as a medium of exchange will be exempt from the goods and services tax (GST) – a major step forward for crypto supporters and spenders.

Meltem Demirors, the chief strategy officer at CoinShares, also appeared on the CNBC segment and warned against crypto becoming too reliant on intermediaries.

“One of the most important things for a lot of hardcore Bitcoiners is that they have choice. They can choose what to do with their Bitcoin, who to transact with, who to interact with – this whole movement is about eliminating our dependence on intermediaries…”

Demirors points out that centralized cryptocurrency exchanges have to play by the rules, answering to regulators. For example, in February of 2018, Coinbase notified customers that it was turning over documents containing account information to the Internal Revenue Service in order to comply with a court order.

“We see large-scale systematic risks coming from these institutions. So the idea of Bitcoin doing away with intermediaries is a good one. But, in fact, we have become more dependent on these institutions than ever. Just the fact that they were able to obtain user accounts from Coinbase is a great example.”