Proposed US Law May Empower President to Block Digital Assets; Ether Price Projected to Hit $22,000 by 2030
Summary:
A proposed US law could give the President power to block digital asset transactions with a broad definition of digital assets. Digital asset expert Scott Johnsson voiced concerns that this could lead to limitation to regulated blockchains under the guise of combating terrorism. At the same time, asset management firm VanEck anticipates the demand for Ether to push its price to $22,000 by 2030. Furthermore, SEC Chair Gary Gensler warns that the launch of spot Ether ETFs in the US may see delays.
The President of the United States may soon have the ability to prevent transactions involving digital assets, thanks to a newly proposed legislation. According to asset management firm VanEck, Ether could reach the $22,000 mark by 2030, driven by increased adoption by the finance and tech sectors, as well as the potential launch of Ether-specific exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But, these ETFs may not launch in the US for some time.
The fresh legislation gives wide-ranging powers to the US president to cut off access to digital assets, causing concern among digital capital experts. Leading figure in the sector Scott Johnsson, aired his concerns on June 6, addressing the excessive reach of the proposed law. He believes the law aims to give the President the power to ban any protocol or smart contract which the Treasury Secretary designates as being connected to a sanctions violator overseas.
This legislation will cover digital assets in a very broad sense, including any digital value recorded on a cryptographic secure distributed ledger. With this law, the President could block any transactions between US citizens and overseas entities linked to terrorism. Strict practices could also be imposed on foreign banks with US accounts which are found to be facilitating these transactions. Johnsson believes the reach of the law could force users to adhere to KYC-compliant and approved blockchain networks, restricting them to regulated chains. He cautions that this move could be masked as a fight against terrorism while trying to control digital assets.
Cryptocurrency ETF issuer VanEck has released statistics showing nine times more daily Ethereum ecosystem users than four years ago, and anticipate this rising demand to boost Ether (ETH) price. The data reveals an average of over 250,000 daily active users across Ethereum and its scaling solutions Arbitrum and Polygon in Q1 2020. By first quarter of 2024, this number reached approximately 2.25 million, nine times more. Meanwhile, VanEck raised its Ethereum price target for 2030 to $22,000, attributing its increased revenue per user and growing popularity among conventional finance participants and big tech companies.
Gary Gensler, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), warns that the launch of the Ether ETF in the US may take longer. In his June 5 interview with CNBC, he stated that the Ether ETF approval process still has several stages to go through before being available to the public, which means the listing could be months away. Despite the delay, numerous ETFs from different firms like BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy and Bitwise have already been approved. Gensler criticized crypto companies for operating outside existing laws, indicating that the SEC's viewpoint on crypto-based enforcement action remains unaltered.
Reported by Geraint Price, Sam Bourgi and Felix Ng.
Published At
6/6/2024 3:58:05 PM
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