Between Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies, and authorities, there has always been a cold war. Regulators, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, have been imposing only minor restrictions and prosecuting egregious frauds for more than ten years while mainly permitting cryptocurrency to operate on its own. But when Gary Gensler was chosen by the Biden administration to lead the SEC, he made clear early on that he intended to adopt a more strict stance.
This mindset has taken many different forms, even outside of Gensler’s official sphere of influence. The SEC increased the number of employees in its enforcement division who were responsible for overseeing cryptocurrency in May. The Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanctions against the Tornado Cash privacy software has caused the greatest concern in the sector and will be challenged in court. And not too long ago, Grayscale Investments filed documents acknowledging that the stellar, zcash, and horizen cryptocurrency tokens “may currently be” securities in answer to an SEC inquiry.
Although authorities may dislike virtual currencies, some of this greater scrutiny may just be a result of crypto’s increasing stakes and importance.
However, denying the obvious won’t change the fact that these watchdogs for the cryptocurrency industry were already prepared to regulate until they were given a handy mandate by the vast amount of seriously destructive fraud and reckless experimentation taking place in the crypto-verse. That was always a risk, but during the bull market of 2020–2022, it became much more so due to the growing public exposure to cryptocurrency speculation.
Iranian Bitcoin educator arrested by Nation’s Security Forces
To add to the obvious global intimidation of the crypto-verse, it has come to light that well-known Iranian Bitcoin advocate, Ziya Sadr has been arrested by the Security Forces of Iran on 19 September 2022, and has not been released yet.
According to Nima Yazdanmehr, a friend of Sadr, Sadr was detained on the streets of Tehran nearly a month ago and is still being held. The arrest happened in the midst of significant anti-government demonstrations after the state-sanctioned murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
Sadr is a well-known Bitcoin evangelist and YouTuber who also teaches about the currency. He has encouraged ways to use Bitcoin for private transactions and translated Bitcoin literature into Farsi.
In the weeks following the protests, the Iranian regime jailed thousands of Iranian individuals and activists, including Sadr. However, there have been no official statements of whether Sadr’s support for Bitcoin has anything to do with the Iranian government’s interest in him.
