First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. So goes the old saying about political change. Over the past decade, the world of cryptocurrency — digital systems that work like money, stored on a distributed ledger called the blockchain — has gone through phases one to three. It’s now fast approaching the fourth: winning.
Having been first uncomprehending, then merely suspicious, then actively hostile, governments in the West are increasingly coming round to the idea that they can coexist with crypto. So much so that in the next couple of years, new legislation and regulation around the world promises to give the world of ‘digital assets’ a way to sync up with the financial services industry. Right now, the EU, the US and the UK are all drafting separate regulatory systems. Which one comes up with the most useful and accommodating new laws may determine the future home of the crypto world. Which brings us to one of those juncture-type moments that, like the Big Bang of financial deregulation in 1986, could break in London’s favour.
