The Future of Cryptocurrency

The November bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX capped a volatile year of selloffs and chaos in the crypto market. This accelerated congressional efforts to create an oversight framework for the largely unregulated and highly unstable digital assets such as bitcoin. Crypto industry supporters, including many GOP members of Congress, view digital assets and their underlying blockchain technology as revolutionary, even as critics deride these assets as a massive Ponzi scheme and blockchains as impractical and environmentally hazardous. At stake is the future of an industry that has become a magnet for cybercrime, but that White House officials believe could bolster U.S. leadership in global finance. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is testing the concept of a government-backed digital currency that could accomplish some of the same goals cryptocurrencies sought to achieve, such as faster, cheaper international payments and giving unbanked consumers access to the financial system.