US presidential candidate reveals cryptocurrency regulation plans

• Andrew Young urges the government to hurry up with cryptocurrency regulation.
• America risks losing its leading role in the industry.

Andrew Young, US Democratic presidential candidate for the 2020 election, outlined his plans to create a national cryptocurrency industry regulatory system.

He believes that a number of countries are ahead of the United States in developing rules for the industry. The US has to catch up with them. Otherwise, America will have to follow the rules created by someone else, he stressed.

Young noted that the government lagged behind cryptocurrency industry development. The absence of a federal regulatory framework led to a conflict of interest between several departments. They view cryptocurrencies as property, goods, or securities.

Young believes that some states adopted an excessively tough approach towards the digital industry. He believes that BitLicense in New York had a chilling effect on the US digital asset market.

Below are the proposals made by the candidate:

• to create the Ministry of Technology
• to provide legislative clarity for the cryptocurrency market and digital assets
• to determine the powers of federal agencies in terms of the market regulation
• to define the concept of a token
• to clarify when the token is a security
• to ensure customer protection
• to clarify the tax consequences of owning, selling and trading digital assets.

In his opinion, recent Congressional hearings on Libra showed that lawmakers lack basic knowledge about blockchain, cryptocurrencies and other technologies. To fill the knowledge gap, Young proposes to revive Congressional Technology Assessment Office, which was liquidated in 1995.

Notably, Andrew Young supporters realized the opportunity to collect donations for his presidential campaign in bitcoins using the Lightning Network.