Well, not much in my opinion.
What's going on now is a cleanup - Canadian and US Regulators are targeting a number of scam ICO's in what's called "Operation Cryptosweep" - it's caused for some negative headlines about crypto over the last week - but it's important to note that the ICO's being labeled a scam by these regulators, have already been labeled a scam by the cryptocurrency world.
That's why it doesn't worry me - they're cleaning up our trash, not going after any respectable altcoins. Headlines shouting "crackdown on cryptocurrency" seems to have caused unnecessary worry, and an unnecessary reaction. The legitimate coins, which make up the vast bulk of the market are totally safe.
When it's done - we're going to see two things. No established and respected companies effected, and a cleaned up market with some of the scams removed - and hopefully scammers scared to do new ones.
This is the cleanup the market needed before the next big step: Institutional investors.
They're coming - and I wouldn't be surprised if they applied pressure on regulators to take action before they dive in.
NASDAQ, the second largest stock exchange is working with Gemini, and it's CEO has expressed they are open to starting an exchange of their own.
JPMorgan, which spent much of 2017 bashing cryptocurrency even had to give in - after their own researchers came to the conclusion "cryptocurrency is here to stay". Their co-president even recently stated "We are looking into that space".
Goldman Sachs, though Circle has even just announced their own cryptocurrency - USDC "USD Circle Coin" as a way to transfer funds faster via blockchain - they're then targeting major banks to use it.
That's just the beginning - the next step is to offer cryptocurrency investments to their massive client list, according to NYTimes:
"In a step that is likely to lend legitimacy to virtual currencies — and create new concerns for Goldman — the bank is about to begin using its own money to trade with clients in a variety of contracts linked to the price of Bitcoin."
Not to mention, countless hedge funds exploring the idea of offering cryptocurrency assets to their investors.
These are just a few examples of what's to come. When the cryptocurrency world exploded last year we gained everything from excited new investors, to attention from the corporate world - and unfortunately, scammers out to exploit the excitement.
When this clean-up phase is done - we'll have a limitless, healthy thriving market full of innovation - a market big investors are comfortable to dive in to. The best is yet to come!
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk
