John Olsen is the New York state lead for the Blockchain Affiliation, which represents the pursuits of the cryptocurrency business. The affiliation has advocated to reform the state’s restrictive digital forex licensing regime and lobbied unsuccessfully in opposition to passage of the bitcoin mining moratorium invoice.
What advantages do cryptocurrencies convey to New York state?
Cryptocurrency and blockchain have began to open new doorways to monetary wealth and supplied options to conventional monetary companies for the unbanked and underbanked. As an business, we’re actually making an attempt to push a common monetary literacy and monetary schooling program to teach people on the flexibility for cryptocurrency and blockchain to assist them navigate a distinct monetary path than going by conventional banking and monetary establishments. Regardless of the challenges in New York, I feel we’ve seen extra folks embrace cryptocurrency as a digital asset and as one thing to look to as an funding, a long-term funding.
Is bitcoin actually an excellent long-term funding when it goes from being price over $60,000 towards the tip of 2021 to about $20,000 this 12 months?
I feel the final 12 months has demonstrated that the cryptocurrency market at this level, whereas it’s nonetheless very new, is very speculative. There’s no query about that. For those who invested in bitcoin on the peak of it, then you definately seemingly misplaced a major amount of cash. However that’s the nature of the speculative markets. I feel you’d discover that when you purchased Netflix and plenty of tech shares, you’d be equally within the purple. It was only a dangerous 12 months for markets generally.
It’s been a really tough time for the business, but it surely’s additionally been a chance to weed out the dangerous actors like those we noticed final 12 months, and it’s a chance to teach policymakers on the breadth and variety of the business versus simply speaking about bitcoin or bitcoin mining.
Talking of bitcoin mining, did you help Meeting Member Anna Kelles’ bitcoin mining moratorium invoice?
No, we have been very a lot against that invoice. From the angle of coverage, the invoice seemed to be an answer seeking an issue. However extra particularly, it was a invoice that solely focused cryptocurrency when it thought-about the usage of power. Proponents will say, effectively, that is our try to forestall the refiring of previous peaker vegetation in New York state. Nevertheless, it didn’t seem that that was a enterprise mannequin that was going to be repeated. There wasn’t any sense that the mannequin that Greenidge was adopting was one thing that was simply going to be embraced wholesale. And there have been proponents, even legislators, who’re saying, don’t be shocked if we now go and attempt to ban all cryptocurrency mining in New York. For those who have been to simply outright ban bitcoin mining in New York, that I feel can be method, method overboard by way of addressing among the challenges that include this new business. It’s dangerous coverage to select winners and losers in relation to power use.
Do you suppose politicians have turn into extra hostile to the cryptocurrency business over the previous 12 months?
It’s exhausting to inform how a lot people have been being attentive to something past the headlines, you recognize, with FTX. So is there an elevated stigma? It’s potential. I feel you’ve solely simply strengthened the opinions of the opponents generally. However what I’ve present in talking with new members and youthful members is there’s extra of an embrace of the underlying know-how and the potential functions for that. As soon as the business strikes on from simply the speculative nature of cryptocurrency, the flexibility to buy and promote currencies on exchanges, and we begin wanting on the precise utility of among the tasks that these native tokens are funding, it will get a little bit bit extra thrilling and the oldsters are a little bit extra open-minded to the chances.
