Bitcoin Mena: Bitcoin regulation is 'futile' and can encourage the creation of grey markets

Owners of cryptocurrency can trade them in jurisdictions that are crypto-friendly, the hereditary prince of Serbia says

Philip Karageorgevitch, hereditary prince of Serbia, at the Bitcoin Mena conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday. Pawan Singh / The National

Regulating Bitcoin is “futile and pointless”, given its secure construction and the flexibility it affords its owners to trade them where pro-crypto rules are enforced, the hereditary prince of Serbia has said.

The world’s first and biggest cryptocurrency, which hit $100,000 last week, should be allowed to be traded freely because users will just be able to go around any restrictions imposed on it, Philip Karageorgevitch told The National at the Bitcoin Mena conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

“Regulating Bitcoin is futile because you can just go around it. Those who have Bitcoin will find out [they can just] go to where it's unregulated and they're free to use it,” Mr Karageorgevitch, who is also an early Bitcoin advocate, said.

“I'm not saying that we can't regulate Bitcoin, I'm just saying that it's futile and I think it's pointless … it acts more like a commodity such as gold and it's something that should be treated completely different with no regulations at all.”

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As an example, if some levy, such as a capital-gains tax, is imposed on Bitcoin, people can keep their Bitcoin and sell it elsewhere tax-free, rendering the tax imposition moot.

“They'll just store it and find an opportunity later in the future and in another jurisdiction,” Mr Karageorgevitch said.

That would have some ill effects, including forcing the creation of a grey market as Bitcoin owners try to dodge regulations and “surveillance”.

The secure and unregulated nature of Bitcoin is what makes it work and grow in appeal. However, he stressed that the line has to be drawn between Bitcoin and other cryptos.

Bitcoin is acquired by a process called mining, which is solving complex mathematical problems to extract the cryptocurrency. That also serves as its proof of work, which is what ties Bitcoin to its owner.

“Since its inception up until now, Bitcoin has been indestructible and immutable. And that is very important,” Mr Karageorgevitch said, noting that Bitcoin would not suffer the same fate as FTX and Celsius Networks.

“Bitcoin doesn't really care about regulations, but I think cryptos should have because of all the scams happening to them,” he said.

The issue of regulating Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been a hot topic as the technology continues to grow in adoption. Jurisdictions have regulations in one form or another to rein in these digital assets.

Their unregulated and speculative nature, price volatility and the risk of illicit activity such as money laundering are among the reasons why central banks around the world have been reluctant to endorse them.

There have been efforts to draw up standard regulations over the years. It is unclear if this will gain traction with the upcoming administration of president-elect Donald Trump, who has embraced crypto, sparking a surge in Bitcoin and other digital assets.

Bitcoin has risen 40 per cent in the two weeks after Mr Trump won the US election. It has increased by about half since the November 5 polls, leading a crypto sector whose market capitalisation is now at more than $3.6 trillion, data from CoinMarketCap shows.

Mr Karageorgevitch acknowledged that Bitcoin is still new and people still do not understand what it means for the future of transactions. However, a jurisdiction having a libertarian approach of letting the market decide is also beneficial for it to expand and be more accepted, he said.

“Bitcoin is the only opportunity that will ever have a digital scarcity. It is the only cryptocurrency that matters and the rest are securities, which should be regulated to some extent to protect the end user,” he said.