Regulations are not going anywhere. On the contrary, financial service providers face more regulatory challenges and higher costs than ever before. During the early days of cryptocurrencies, a “Wild West” culture emerged when regulators, uncertain on how to tackle this thing called blockchain, paid little attention to the thefts, scams and hacks plaguing the virtual-asset market.
Today, this is no longer the case. No matter their roots, every virtual asset project from Telegram to Shapeshift to Libra is ramping up compliance while regulators continue to issue guidance, enforce regulations and pay closer attention to digital securities platforms, crypto exchanges and other virtual-asset service providers, or VASPs, catering to the residents of their respective jurisdictions. Despite this, many organizations in the blockchain space still face a painful combination of misinformation, opaque legislation and willful ignorance when it comes to fulfilling their obligations in each of the markets they serve.