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America needs to move on blockchain – Red Bluff Daily News
From the sublime to the ridiculous, America invents. From airplane to jelly, and in between, we somehow intuitively understand what people want and figure out how to get it. This has put us in a position to lead market transformation multiple times, most recently with our rapid adoption of e-commerce.
It’s time to do it again by applying the same innovative spirit to blockchain. Instead we hesitate. It could be due to fear of the unknown, but it’s easy to fix. Blockchain is not complicated and should not be scary. Basically, it’s a peer-to-peer communications technology that could revolutionize global financial transactions, especially those that cross international borders.
The sooner we adopt it, the faster we will get to a leaner and more efficient future. This is in everyone’s interest. The value of money fluctuates continuously. Digital networks must operate quickly so that value estimates at the time of purchase are accurately preserved. The faster they move, the more accurate, confident and transparent such assessments can be.
This has been true for a while. In a December 2022 Wall Street Journal editorial, Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon told the world, “Blockchain is much more than cryptocurrencies.”
Solomon explained that the promise of blockchain could be fulfilled if the nation’s major regulated financial institutions were allowed to step up and make it happen. “Unlike other waves of innovation, blockchain technology has arrived and disrupted heavily regulated industries. The invention of email did not make FedEx or UPS obsolete.”
“(P)eer-to-peer payments and the tokenization of traditional assets are changing companies, from the way they raise funds to the way investors trade shares,” Solomon wrote, explaining how this would have far-reaching implications for the global economy. Other financial companies such as BlackRock and JPMorgan are following suit, developing their own products and systems that use blockchain.
Blockchain can do much more than speed up the processing of financial transactions. It has many potential applications that have not yet been touched upon, such as improving transparency, efficiency and monitoring of land titles, licensing, public works tenders and supply chain operations. It could also provide a way to make elections more secure.
It’s a shame that so many innovators have been left sitting on their hands while the government takes its time writing the rules. There is no way to calculate how much growth in the economy is lost or postponed or how many jobs are not created because Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission move so slowly. The odds, unfortunately, are considerable.
Look, for example, at how investments in artificial intelligence drive growth. James Pinkerton, the futurist thinker whose new book, The Secret of Directional Investing, examines the divide between red and blue states from the perspective of what’s good for investors, believes that the flow of money into Silicon Valley to support the development of artificial intelligence is continuing. California afloat.
A similar wave of investment could also flood the market if the huge obstacles posed by the SEC were removed so that blockchain could be widely adopted. So far, only two networks or digital assets in the United States, Bitcoin and XRP, have regulatory clarity thanks to judicial intervention and rebukes from the SEC.
This is not the way to facilitate innovation in the market. If there have to be rules of the road, and no one says there shouldn’t be, then Congress or the SEC should write them and be done with it. Regulatory clarity allows the free market to move forward. Without it, we will only be able to speculate on the real value of the technology.
Enough time has already been wasted. Investments do not chase value. Opportunities for progress are delayed or lost to other countries. If we don’t make it a priority, China and the other countries that make up the BRICS will take over the United States. America can’t afford it.
Copyright 2024 Peter Roff distributed by newspaper syndicate Cagle Cartoons.
Peter Roff is a former U.S. News and World Report contributing editor and UPI senior policy writer, now affiliated with several Washington-based public policy organizations. He writes for numerous publications and appears regularly on international television discussing US politics. You can contact him at RoffColumns@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @TheRoffDraft.