US Congress erred in blocking Libra

It is a given that innovation will always precede regulation. The emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) will give rise to many disruptive technologies that ought to be regulated.

Many of these technologies will change our lives for the better while others might have the opposite effect. No one disputes that regulation is necessary. However, knee-jerk regulation is not the answer. There was a good example of such unthinking reaction last week when the US Congress blocked Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency. Clearly, the US Congress erred. There are many different types of cryptocurrencies, but the ones that are of great concern are utility/security and general coins, sometimes referred to as tokens.