The United States Is Falling Behind in Bitcoin Regulation

Lawmakers and regulators in the United States could be doing a much better job attracting innovative fintech startups to the country, Coin Center Executive Director Jerry Brito said at a recent cryptocurrency-focused event hosted by the Cato Institute.
Although the United States started out as the leader in Bitcoin regulation, it is now falling behind other jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, where innovation in fintech and digital currency is being embraced with open arms.
The U. S. Has Been a Leader in Bitcoin Regulation
In 2013, the U. S. Senate held the first hearings on Bitcoin. In that same year, FinCEN released the first announcement by any government agency related to the technology. The IRS was also the first tax agency in the world to clarify the tax treatment of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Additionally, BitLicense in New York was the first licensing regime in the world directed at digital currencies.
‘Although certainly imperfect, each of these pronouncements brought clarity and certainty to an emerging industry, and these approaches were copied around the world,’ Brito said at the Cato event.

This post was published at Bitcoin Magazine