Rep. Tom Emmer, often referred to as the “Crypto King of Congress”, believes decentralization in DeFi is critical.
Posting a tweet on October 20, the powerful House Republican from Minnesota and the co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, argued that if Congress and U.S. policymakers sacrifice decentralization espoused in DeFi for legislation, the world, and specifically, the United States will be “throwing away an opportunity.”
Decentralization is the point. If we sacrifice DeFi for legislation, we’re throwing away the opportunity.
— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) October 20, 2022
Decentralization is an essential feature in blockchain that guarantees transactions are irreversible and secure. For example, a decentralized public network, like Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Cardano, has nodes distributed worldwide. This means that even if there are regulations in one part of the world against cryptocurrencies and DeFi, the network will continue to operate, supporting the trustless confirmation of transactions, normally in other parts of the world.
Rep. Tom has been vocal against what he perceives to be “over-regulation” in crypto by U.S. agencies. Although the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies might explain the aggressive steps and application of stringent suffocating rules by regulators, there are several advantages DeFi and blockchain present. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies means the technology brings financial access to people in the periphery who may not otherwise access these critical services.
In the policymaker’s assessment, Gary Gensler of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is overreaching and trying to over-regulate the space, stifling innovation. In an interview, he said that, unlike the SEC’s position, cryptocurrencies couldn’t be classified as securities since they operate from a decentralized network.
“We’ve got to remember this technology is decentralized after a project is fully developed, there’s no centralized group behind it whose work investors would be profiting on. So at that point, it should not be a security.”
Earlier, Rep. Emmer has been quoted saying DeFi and cryptocurrencies exemplify and presents an opportunity for Americans to achieve financial freedom.
Presently, Ripple Inc., the blockchain company using XRP as part of its solutions, is entangled in a court case with the SEC.
