What's Going On With The Regulation Of Cryptocurrency?

The recent rally in Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD is on pause Tuesday after the U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to the infrastructure bill that aimed to better define the language around crypto brokers. The bill is set to go to a vote with the original language.

The process of introducing amendments to the bill has been fascinating to watch, CoinShares' Meltem Demirors said Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

today an 87 year old senator demanding an additional $50B for military and defense spending (on top of the current $700B+ per year) blocked any compromise on amending the crypto component of the infrastructure bill

we need to stop voting for these people, y'all

— Meltem Demir◎rs (@Melt_Dem) August 9, 2021

The changes aren't going to be monumental for crypto and won't be implemented until 2023 so there is still time, Demirors said.

"The crypto community definitely came out in full force," she added. 

More than 15% of the population in the U.S. holds a cryptocurrency of some type, yet there is very little awareness around cryptocurrency when it comes to policymaking, Demirors told CNBC.

"We've reached a tipping point when it comes to #bitcoin and #crypto ... over 15% of our population here in this country holds a cryptocurrency of some type. But still when it comes to our policymaking there is very little education or awareness," says @Melt_Dem of @CoinSharesCo. pic.twitter.com/S6av36Xs3g

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) August 10, 2021

"There is also this continued misconception that crypto is an unregulated shadowy corner of finance, which it's not. It's been regulated by an alphabet soup of agencies for multiple years now," she said. 

The overwhelming outreach of different crypto supporters highlights the fundamental divide between investors in the tech community and what's happening in Washington D.C., Demirors noted.

See Also: Bitcoin Breaks Bear's Hopes, Busts Through Resistance: What's Next?

Price Action: Bitcoin is up 56.77% year-to-date, while Ethereum is up 324.77% year-to-date.

At last check Tuesday, Bitcoin was down 3.29% at $44,814.30 and Ethereum was down 2.83% at $3,072.86

Photo by Eivind Pedersen from Pixabay.