There have been many changes in cryptocurrency adoption since the introduction of the first crypto asset, called. This was more than a decade ago.

Apart from the incredible growth in digital assets, which now exceed 7,500, another thing that has drastically changed is the regulatory approach across countries, all working together to preserve order and stability in crypto-finance.

Some countries are already accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but others may be hesitant to accept them, or in certain cases, they might choose to restrict their use.

Although there have been many attempts to ban regulations, the ultimate success of crypto currencies still relies heavily on them.

A number of cryptocurrency enterprises have tried to find ways to stay decentralized while still being regulated. Lennix Lei, OKEx director, thinks this is possible.

OKEx, an exchange that allows you to trade different cryptocurrencies on a platform located in Seychelles (based in Seychelles), is OKEx. DailyCoin spoke with Lai about his views on the state and future of crypto regulatory affairs in an exclusive interview.

While it has been dubbed the “world’s leading asset platform,” OKEx offers a suite of diverse services, ranging from Spot/P2P trading to liquidity pooling and decentralized cloud services, to security of funds, collateral-based lending and borrowing, and much more.

Cryptocurrency’s Regulatory Landscape

Lai speaks out about the current regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency market. He claims the times have changed, and he feels much more at ease talking about it now than a few years back.

“Back then, there wasn’t regulation so we kinda stepped into gray areas that were either partially regulated or not regulated. We found it difficult to reach the regulators when trying to get in touch with them, simply because we had so little to offer and the industry wasn’t very large. Likewise, the regulator has no idea how to regulate this kind of industry; truth be told, a few of them were scared,”
Lai noted.

The regulatory position of many countries has also changed over the years. According to Lai, crypto’s development, especially that of Bitcoin and , has drawn attention from governments, who are now paying more attention than ever before.

“Regulation Brings Clarity and Comfort”

While the approach taken by each nation’s government varies, Lai opined that this growing attention, which also comes in the form of regulation, is necessary, considering that it brings with it the clarity and comfort required for the overall implementation and application of crypto.

“When you consider where we were a few years ago, it appeared that we were going nowhere. We now have greater clarity. We now know if the regulatory agencies or government are in favor of cryptocurrency. Or, in worse cases, if they want to ban it completely,”
Lai explained.

On the other hand, some government officials take the approach of: “hey, let’s start small. Let’s ask some alumni we know. Let’s try to collaborate.” This kind of approach, according to Lai, provides clarity on how to engage with regulators, as well as how to approach the next line of action, development-wise.

Regulations provide certainty and comfort for crypto-verse but they make scaling a project more difficult than it would be otherwise. Lai says the reason is not only because of the large financial investment but also because it requires a lot of work to identify which regions to penetrate.

Crypto Future endorsed by Regulators

Lai was asked his opinion on the future of cryptocurrency. He stated that regulators will endorse the technology at several levels, but the most important ones are in three groups.

The first level is regulators being “extremely supportive;” Lai explains that regulators will try to establish separative laws specifically for the crypto industry. This is likely to be the most common form of regulatory support in the region.

The second level is simply “supportive,” where no real action is taken by the government, however, there are efforts geared towards trying to fit crypto access into the existing regulatory regime.

The third and final level has to do with an “extremely unsupportive regulatory regime.” In most cases, regions that fall under this category are very hostile and non-supportive towards the crypto industry.

While each region tends to respond to each level differently, it’s hard to predict what the eventual mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies will look like. Lai believes that the best thing about all this is that even countries can be supportive of the cryptocurrency space even when they have strict controls in place.

Flipside

• While regulations can provide clarity and comfort for project managers, they often make scaling more difficult.
• The cost of regulation can add up, particularly when legal counsel is required. Startups are not usually able to afford this.

Why you should care

It is still a difficult dilemma for the cryptocurrency-verse to balance being completely decentralized with being regulated. It is difficult to attain truly decentralized finance within a completely regulated environment. This is why the future of cryptocurrency remains uncertain.

The full interview can be viewed here

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