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In this week’s episode of “Bitcoin Bottom Line,” hosts C.J. Wilson and Josh Oszelwicz are joined by guest Yankun Guo, a corporate and financial regulations attorney at Ice Miller, to discuss cryptocurrency regulations and how they intersect with law.
Guo’s interests lie in bridging the gap between technology and law. She explains her tasks as “working with companies to help navigate new emerging technologies.” Guo highlights the complex and evolutionary nature of the relationship between cryptocurrency and regulation and shared, “One thing that is exciting about crypto is that, depending on what you do with it, you fall under a different jurisdiction, a different law or regulation.”
As they dive deeper into this relationship, Wilson explains, “Crypto is 24/7, Bitcoin trades 24/7, a lot of people think the law is sort of like 9:00 to 5:00.” He goes on to ask, “Is it going too fast for laws to catch up? Or are there certain instances where the laws have been ready, or really old laws are still applying even though it’s a brand new marketplace?”
To this, Guo explains that in many cases older laws are being applied, but she pushes for evolution to, “educate legislators and policy makers to make sure that the laws do catch up and hopefully foster innovation so that it doesn’t impede progress.”
Wilson then discusses the ways in which regulations can be variable from state to state. Guo explains that it is difficult to navigate because, “No company, especially if you are a technology company, operates purely in one state … you have federal regulations, as well as state-by-state regulations you have to follow and case law on top of that.” When discussing regulations in the United States as a whole, Wilson refers to it as a double-edged sword, balancing safety and assurance, with comparably higher regulations. Guo explains that an increase in regulation has also been met with an adoption of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin on a wider scale. In the end, Wilson asks Guo “What would better laws and rules look like?” to which she outlines a two-step process to reach clarity and understanding, starting with “What are we trying to achieve?” Followed by “What are the steps to get there?”
Listen to the full episode for more!
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