Tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya has issued a warning that crypto may as well be dead in the US.
Palihapitiya was discussing the future of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), their estimated price targets, and the outlook for the industry in the country as a whole.
Speaking to the All-In podcast, a YouTube show dedicated to technology and industry developments, Palihapitiya discussed increasing regulatory scrutiny in the country.
He described it as high-handed in the US, while predicting that BTC may be on track to hit $200,000.
His remarks follow a statement by US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler who has suggested that cryptocurrencies ought to be regulated under securities laws but has offered little guidance on how this could be implemented.
“You had Gensler even blaming the banking crisis on crypto”, the entrepreneur said, speaking of the latest gung-ho approach that many parts of the US government have taken against the crypto industry.
His remarks come at a time when many companies are facing pressure to comply with ill-defined regulatory measures.
Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong is preparing to take the exchange out of the country in a potential act of defiance. He has already told CNBC that Coinbase is gearing up to challenge the SEC in a court of law.
He explained that crypto companies are some of the most threatening to the establishment, which has made them a target.
He also noted that the regulator had not shown the same intensity of regulation in any other realm of the start-up economy.
Palihapitiya says that the industry is paying the price of overbearing regulation that is not motivated by setting clear rules.
Gensler, though, has been defiant as well. The chairman said that the SEC had a detailed framework planned that it would roll out in the next 90 days or so.
Palihapitiya has been known to miss the mark with his predictions in the past. In 2021, he predicted that BTC would hit $100,000 but this price target has not been yet fulfilled. BTC is trading at around $27,340 at the time of writing.
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