The United States’ Declaration of Independence (from Great Britain) in 1776 was a revolution, but it took another 15 years to adopt the Constitution in 1791, the ultimate declaration of citizens’ rights. The drafting of the constitution itself took 5 years and 9 months, from March 25, 1785 to January 10, 1791.

The Bitcoin network was created on January 3, 2009 when Satoshi Nakamoto mined the chain’s starting block, known as the genesis block. In honor of Bitcoin’s 16th anniversary and the tailwinds of crypto change blowing through the new U.S. government, a Crypto Bill of Rights, in a way the “founding fathers of crypto” might have write, was built.

Let us hope that following the Bitcoin revolutionThis bill will help accelerate U.S. policy thinking, execution of legislation, and proportional implementation of regulations, in a shorter period of time than it took to approve the bill final Constitution in 1791.

The Constitution for a Crypto Bill of Rights for the United States of America

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect financial services market, to establish greater financial fairness, to ensure greater domestic financial stability, to ensure the common economic defense, to promote the general financial well-being and to secure the blessings of the economy and financial freedom for ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Crypto Bill of Rights for the United States of America.

Article. I. Regulatory agencies: We need to clearly define which regulator is responsible for crypto, creating clarity on the crypto and digital asset markets and situating them within appropriate securities or commodities frameworks. This clarification should also include measures to support broader dematerialization and clarify the legal status of crypto as a digital hygiene factor for US markets.

Article. II. Banking control: We must immediately address the issue of cryptocurrency debanking – the US must implement provisions to protect against auto-denial and automatic account closure, and the industry must also develop an appeals process and clear and fair justification for the identified “risk”.

Article. III. Judicial power: We need to develop appropriate and proportionate prudential standards to ensure financial stability and risk management as crypto assets are integrated across the financial services sector. This must include abandoning discriminatory and disproportionate policies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121, which are inconsistent with broader prudential requirements and also undermine the protection of consumers. Specific legislation on stablecoins must provide clear market conduct guidance that ensures that stablecoins maintain price stability, are fully supported and that systemic risks are mitigated. Stablecoins are currently a $200 billion market and are the current flagship application, providing fiat for digital on-ramps for Web3. The United States must foster growth and become a global leader as a hub for its issuance and integration into global payment systems.

Article. IV. States and citizens: Standards of market conduct, including consumer and investor protection requirements, must be created by U.S. regulators. Retail consumers and the U.S. private sector should have the flexibility to choose new crypto products that best meet their personal and business needs – innovation should not be limited by overly stringent crypto and security requirements. other new technologies.

Article V Digital Government: The public sector and regulators must be equipped with new products, including DLT, cryptography and other revolutionary new technologies, to bring the knowledge and benefits of “digital” to agencies and government, and for digitalization comprehensive and holistic United States. the financial services ecosystem. Industry must support and, where possible, help co-fund the innovation hubs of partnering agencies, in the development and implementation of these digital technologies.

Article. VI. Equal opportunities: Education, supported by a cooperative public and private sector, must be a priority so that American citizens and businesses can benefit from the new jobs and opportunities created by crypto and new technologies, while mitigating the risk of jobs that could be disintermediated by digitalization. .

Article. VII. Fair application: US regulators must create clear anti-money laundering (AML), know your customer (KYC), and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) requirements for crypto, consistent with international standards such than the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) guidelines and extend existing cyber guidance for financial services appropriately and proportionately to crypto, to best prevent illicit activities. Tax reporting guidelines and requirements must be developed and must be transparent, feasible and fair. These must not include disproportionate requirements that are punitive either for retail consumers or for wholesale markets.

Article. VIII. Decentralized rights: Proportionate DeFi safeguards need to be developed, but in a way that recognizes that this technology and the digital financial market are still evolving. A clear distinction must also be made between the technology itself and open source code and financial products and activities. The United States should consider leveraging access to the DeFi ecosystem, such as regulated entities and exchanges, when implementing guidelines, as well as future solutions such as broader adoption of l digital identification, with a focus on regulating the activities carried out by counterparties, and not on the technology itself.