The co-founder and CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, says increasing regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry will only make Bitcoin stronger.
In a new interview with Salt Talks, Saylor responds to recent comments from President Biden’s Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen, who said she’s concerned about the illicit use of crypto assets.
Saylor says he believes new rules regulating the industry will ultimately be bullish for BTC.
“To the extent that we have regulated entities that are dealing in Bitcoin, I think it’s just going to accelerate the stampede of institutional money into Bitcoin.”
Saylor points out the fact that Bitcoin purchases are already taking place on regulated exchanges that are compliant with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) laws put in place to prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and other crimes.
“Everybody’s buying Bitcoin on regulated exchanges, you know. You know what it’s like to get like a New York-regulated license to sell Bitcoin, they all have to comply with KYC, they all have to comply with AML – anti-money laundering regulations, know your customer regulations.”
Saylor says regulation of the industry is a reflection of crypto’s increasing mainstream adoption, and the work governments are doing to ensure they have a grip on the flow of money in and out of the space, just as they do in traditional finance.
“The implication is you’re going to see large banks and brokerages that are already complying with AML and KYC regulations that will continue to comply with those things. And all of the money that’s currently sitting in Apple stock and Amazon and sovereign debt and cash accounts and real estate indexes, that is subject to AML and KYC regulations, will continue to be subject to it. And it’s going to float into some digital gold…
And should the central regulators decide that banks have to comply with AML and KYC regulations with regard to a crypto asset in the same way that they would comply with those with regard to a stock asset, a real estate asset, a bond asset or a commodity asset, I don’t think it’s earth-shattering. I don’t think it’s going to be negative for the industry. In fact, I think it’s the opposite…
I don’t think Bitcoin needs to be unregulated to be successful. I think Bitcoin just needs to be better than gold to be successful.”
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