Senator Mike Crapo: It will be impossible to ban Bitcoin in the United States

It would be impossible to ban bitcoin in the United States, as per US Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). While chairing the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, he offered some positive comments on Bitcoin:

“If the United States were to decide, and I’m not saying it should, if the United States decided we didn’t want cryptocurrency to happen in the United States and tried to ban it, I’m pretty confident we couldn’t succeed in doing that because this is a global tech, a global innovation.”

Crapo was the latest member of the US Congress to have seemingly warmed up to bitcoin. Earlier this month, Rep. Patrick McHenry had stated that “there’s no capacity to kill bitcoin.”

During his opening statement, Crapo said that the US should take the lead in fostering innovations such as bitcoin:

“It seems to me that digital technology innovations are inevitable, could be beneficial, and I believe that the US should lead in developing these innovations and what the rules of the road should be.”

Crapo then discussed the benefits of bitcoin and other similar digital assets:

“With the appropriate balance of regulation, digital currencies and their innovative underlying technology could provide meaningful benefits and I look forward to learning more about the ecosystem during this hearing.”

July has been a busy month for bitcoin after Facebook’s Libra brought the entire industry under closer scrutiny by politicians and lawmakers. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy admitted that he liked bitcoin while criticizing Libra. Rep. Patrick McHenry also recognized that bitcoin was an “unstoppable force.” Rep. Warren Davidson also took the time to educate the world on the differences between bitcoin and shitcoin.

Everything points to the US Congress moving towards sensible regulation. Circle’s Jeremy Allaire urged lawmakers for properly clarify the laws surrounding cryptocurrencies:

“There is a fundamental mismatch between the regulatory structure and guidance that we have here (in the US) and the nature of these digital assets. Markets around the world are adopting these, not just Bermuda but Singapore, Switzerland, even jurisdictions like France introducing…definitions of digital assets so that issuers can feel comfortable.”