Andrew Yang calls for cryptocurrency regulation in policy platform

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U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang has often sought to be the man in the race with the clearest plans for cryptocurrency. He once again proved he’s the one with the clearest plan to regulate the industry as well, publishing an outline of how he would do it, if elected.

On his official campaign website, Yang published a policy outline titled “Regulating Technology Firms In the 21st Century,” where he criticizes the government’s ability to understand and regulate new technologies, notably digital currencies. “It’s embarrassing to see the ignorance some members of Congress display when talking about technology, and anyone who watched Congress question Mark Zuckerberg is well aware of this,” he writes.

When it comes to cryptocurrency, he notes it sorely lacks the regulation it requires, and as a result, criminals are prospering. “Cryptocurrencies are seeing levels of fraud because of the lack of regulation,” he notes.  “Other countries, which are ahead of us on regulation, are leading in this new marketplace and dictating the rules that we’ll need to follow once we catch up.”

The first step to fixing, he believes, is in reviving the Office of Technology Assessment and establishing a Department of Technology. The former used to be a thing that could help government with new advancements in technology, but was phased out in 1995, because apparently everything had been invented by then.

While this will help with several challenges, he also notes several specific steps he wants to get the world of crypto under control. To clarify the industry, he would seek a definition of what a token is, when it’s a security, which federal agencies should oversee the space, add consumer protections, clarify tax laws, and preempt state legislation that might complicate federal ones.

If there’s any criticism of Yang, it’s that some of this is already being done by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has cracked down on token offerings that qualify a securities and stepped up their game significantly in recent months as a regulator. It hasn’t been a lack of definition that’s been a problem, but a lack of attention to the space that has led to a lack of prosecution.

But the idea that the President of the United States will seek to make a very clear regulatory space for cryptocurrency, and eliminate much of the fraud and corruption that exists in the industry, is a very tempting one.