Biden's Crypto Policy Legacy: A Regulation of Hostility

The recent New York Times op-ed by former Biden economic advisers Ryan Cummings and Jared Bernstein has been criticized for its selective memory and omission of key facts about the Biden administration's approach to cryptocurrency. The authors claim that the decline in bitcoin's price is a vindication of the administration's regulatory efforts, but this argument has been disputed. The administration's strategy of regulation-by-enforcement, rather than establishing clear rules, had a devastating impact on legitimate businesses and consumers, while allowing bad actors to thrive. The op-ed also ignores the controversial 'Operation Choke Point 2.0', which saw lawful crypto businesses debanked without due process. The authors' dismissive view of crypto as a 'painfully slow and expensive database' with 'almost no practical use' has been challenged, with many pointing to its potential for fast, low-cost cross-border remittances and its role in a rapidly growing ecosystem of financial applications. The op-ed's focus on short-term price movements has been labeled as 'analytically unserious', and its criticism of the Bitcoin network as 'slow' has been countered by arguments about its security and importance to regulators. The authors' repeated invocation of the straw man of a taxpayer-funded bailout of the crypto industry has been disputed, and their concern about moral hazard has been questioned in light of the Biden administration's response to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. The op-ed's implication that the crypto industry's political donations are corrupt has been challenged, with many arguing that the industry's advocacy for favorable regulation is a legitimate exercise of democratic participation. Ultimately, the Biden administration's approach to cryptocurrency has been criticized for its failure to establish clear, fair rules, and its decision to 'weaponize the banking system' against a legal industry has been seen as a 'lose-lose-lose' for innovation, consumer protection, and the US crypto ecosystem.