In an interview with Business Insider, Terry Duffy, CME Group’s Chairman and CEO, talks about regulation issues in the cryptocurrency space and how we should be using them instead of speculating.
Terry Duffy, CEO and Chairman of the CME Group, sat down with Business Insider to discuss a myriad of topics about the current landscape of cryptomarkets and how they can be used instead of speculated on. The best way to do that, in his opinion, are stablecoins backed by fiat currencies. The reasoning is because they still have some characteristics of traditional fiat currency although they are purely digital. Through the use of stablecoins, businesses and users wouldn’t have to worry about price volatility and would then, in turn, be open to using them as intended, as a currency.
Duffy goes on more to say that people are too concerned with the price of Bitcoin and other crypto assets that they aren’t considering, “How do I use this asset?” Once usage occurs, the price will handle itself.
“Once you get the use of it, the price will take care of itself,” Duffy said. “But the argument has gone only to the price of say bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. No one is talking about, ‘How do I use this asset?'” -Terry Duffy
In regards to institutional adoption and regulation issues, he thinks that institutions haven’t entered the space due to a lack of an exchange-traded note. This won’t change until regulators start giving some green lights for institutions to feel comfortable investing in the new asset class. This won’t happen overnight, especially because regulators, like the CFTC and SEC, are extremely cautious when it comes to anything cryptocurrency due to being so new.
“I do believe that the regulators right now are a little careful about just rubber stamping anything as it relates to crypto. You are going to have to have an offering that the regulators are going to have to get comfortable. And I think it is hard to get comfortable with something that is so new like this.” -Terry Duffy
The reason for the lack of regulation he believes has to do with the finite supply of said cryptocurrencies. This is a huge contrast to how governments currently work, where they can print an unlimited supply of currency.
“The governments can’t run unless they can run on a deficit. I am trying to figure out why they would say, ‘Sounds good to me, because I want to be responsible and run everything on even-for-even basis. I can’t borrow against anything.'” -Terry Duffy
