The True Legacy of Biden's Crypto Policy: Regulation Through Hostility

Biden's former economic advisers, Ryan Cummings and Jared Bernstein, have penned an opinion piece in the New York Times, selectively recalling the decline of bitcoin's price from its 2025 peak as a vindication of the administration's approach to cryptocurrency. However, their narrative omits a crucial fact: the Biden-era crypto policy was not based on a well-reasoned regulatory framework. Instead, it was characterized by aggressive enforcement efforts that failed to establish clear rules, ultimately driving legitimate businesses offshore or out of business, harming consumers, and stifling American innovation. The administration's strategy allowed bad actors like Sam Bankman-Fried to thrive, while lawful crypto businesses were systematically debanked by federal regulators without due process. The authors downplay the significance of crypto, dismissing it as a 'slow and expensive database' with limited practical use, despite its potential to enable fast, low-cost cross-border remittances and its role in underpinning a growing ecosystem of financial applications. Furthermore, the op-ed's claim that no major tech firms are using blockchain technology is incorrect, as companies like Fidelity, JPMorgan, and Visa are actively building on blockchain infrastructure. The authors' attempt to condemn the entire asset class based on short-term price movements is analytically flawed, and their labeling of the Bitcoin network as 'slow' overlooks its robust security features. The op-ed's invocation of a taxpayer-funded bailout of the crypto industry is a straw man, as no serious policymaker has proposed such a measure. The Biden administration's approach to crypto regulation has been marked by a lack of clear rules, instead opting for a strategy of regulation-by-enforcement that has harmed innovation, consumer protection, and the U.S. crypto ecosystem.