Vitalik Buterin criticizes U.S. for promoting ‘useless’ projects

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has openly criticized the U.S. for its handling of cryptocurrency regulation. He believes the current system encourages the development of useless projects and vague promises of returns.

Vitalik argues that if returns and rights are classified as securities, the focus should shift to creating tokens that maintain or increase in economic value. This change, he emphasizes, requires honest participation from both regulators and the industry.

“I would much rather see us move to the opposite situation, where issuing a token WITHOUT giving a clear long-term story for why it will maintain or increase in economic value is the riskier thing, and if you DO give such a long-term story and follow basic best practices then you’re safe.”

Vitalik Buterin

In a recent post on Warpcast, Jason, a member of the Ethereum Foundation, revisited a tweet from 2022 during the SBF frontend regulation debate. Jason expressed that regulations could help reduce the number of grifters and opportunists in the industry.

He suggested that such regulations would make the crypto space safer. He also wished for a feature that shows the tokenomics breakdown of a coin before swapping, with links to Etherscan displaying how top holders obtained their coins.

The 2022 tweet by Vitalik proposed several regulations for DeFi frontends. He suggested limits on leverage, transparency about security checks on contract code, and knowledge-based tests for usage instead of net-worth minimum rules.

Vitalik was responding to Jason’s tweet when he called U.S. regulators out. He pointed out that the current system allows projects with vague promises to thrive, while those providing clear returns and rights are penalized as securities.

He argued that this creates an “anarcho-tyranny” that is detrimental to the industry. Vitalik called for a shift to a system where issuing tokens without a clear long-term value proposition is riskier.

Young Americans flock to crypto

Vitalik’s comments come at a time when America is seeing a rise in crypto adoption and preference. A Bank of America survey of over a thousand wealthy Americans revealed a massive change in investment preferences among younger generations.

While older individuals (aged 44 and above) allocate 55% of their investments to stocks, younger generations allocate only 28% to stocks. Instead, they show a greater interest in cryptocurrencies (14% versus 1%) and alternative investments (17% versus 5%).

This shift is crucial as an $84 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer is expected through 2045. About 42% of these transfers are anticipated from high net worth individuals.

“We’re living through a period of great social, economic and technological change alongside the greatest generational transfer of wealth in history. This study shows that wealthy Americans are focused on diversification, long-term goals and making a lasting impact with their wealth.” 

— Katy Knox, President of Bank of America Private Bank

Older generations rank stocks as the top growth prospect, while younger generations place stocks at the bottom.

Despite this difference, when combining investments in different types of companies (excluding personal companies), the figures are similar: 57% for younger individuals and 56% for older individuals.

Jai Hamid