In one of his several pro-Bitcoin letters, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Andrew Yang carefully laid out the groundwork on how technology should be regulated, including of course crypto.
Reflecting on the negative impacts of technology on the nation, the philanthropist and entrepreneur Yang touched on how much technology has affected the minds of the young and how much worse it is now to regulate the space. Yang further pinpointed the struggle through which government agencies are going just to bring the tech space under control.
Highlighting Facebook’s boss Mark Zuckerberg’s hearing and how congress struggled to comprehend how the blockchain space works, Yang proposed that a sound working regulatory framework is the best way to tackle the shifts in the tech world. Splitting the big tech companies into small bits is no longer a panacea. What the tech world needs now is a firm regulatory system. “Unfortunately, our government is unequipped to handle it,” he asserts.
In his article, the presidential hopeful revealed a sound working system he believes would be best to regulate the tech world and cryptocurrency.
According to his 4-point agenda, creating a clean and transparent tech world where the sky is big enough for everyone to fly in would require
- A fair control of the use of data and privacy. This ultimately involves establishing data as a property right. And ensuring individuals retain ownership of their data.
- Drastically minimizing the health impact of tech on our people, especially children. If elected, he swears he will create a new task force dubbed the Department of the Attention Economy, saddled with the responsibility of controlling the design and use of smartphones, games, social media platforms, and apps.
- Preventing the spread of misinformation that is eroding trust in our institutions. Yang proposed that he “will scale up VAT on digital ads to hasten a shift away from ad-driven business models, require disclosures on all ads, regulate bot activity, and regulate algorithms, addressing the grey area between publishers and platforms.”
- Adopting a new regulatory approach that involves the increase of the knowledge and capacity of government. This also extends to a 21st century metrics that quickly identifies emerging technologies that are in need of regulation just like blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
It is no doubt that the tech world has advanced more than our government today. New emerging markets such as the crypto market are becoming even more difficult to regulate. With a solid framework like the one proposed above, I am certain of a positive change in the gigantic tech world.
In the past, Yang has taken a clear pro-crypto stance. He allowed Bitcoin donations to his campaign and he also advocated for the use of blockchain technology in the 2020 presidential elections.
