'Crypto is like Wack-A-Mole (You Can't Stop It)'
TL;DR
The founder of Blockstream, Adam Back recently stated: "Once an exchange shuts down or stops servicing one market, people will just move to another exchange,”
Translation: getting rid of crypto exchanges is like playing a game of Wack-A-Mole - when one closes, another will find a work-around and fill the gap in the market.
So while decentralized cryptocurrencies can be slowed by regulatory pressures - they can't actually be stopped.
In which case, governments may as well put regulatory measures in place that nurture blockchain (helping the economy), and weed out the bad actors (protecting consumers).
Full Story
If you're in the US and worried that soon there won't be any crypto exchanges left for you to convert cash into crypto and vice versa, well...
The founder of Blockstream, Adam Back (who some believe to be Satoshi Nakamoto), has some calming words for you:
"Once an exchange shuts down or stops servicing one market, people will just move to another exchange, or move to an international exchange.”
Translation: getting rid of crypto exchanges is like playing a game of Wack-A-Mole - when one closes, another will find a work-around and fill the gap in the market, because there are massive economic incentives to do so.
And that's our guess as to why the US crypto community are mad, yet also kind of calm about this whole 'crypto crackdown' thing...
They're calm because, while decentralized cryptocurrencies can be slowed by regulatory pressures - they can't actually be stopped.
(There's no singular 'kill switch' in decentralized systems).
...but they're also mad - because if blockchain can't be stopped, why not put regulatory measures in place that nurture the industry (helping the economy), while weeding out the bad actors (protecting consumers)?
The takeaway:
Getting government agencies to align with/embrace the immutable economic force of blockchain is probably going to take a minute.
So we might need to employ some patience.