Hester Pierce (SEC): Banning Bitcoin Would Mean Shutting Down Internet

With warnings from both Peter Thiel and Ray Dalio which indicate the growing political importance of Bitcoin, the heat is on for crypto.

Will regulators eventually intervene, and what would happen if they do? Hester Pierce, the SEC Commissioner who’s known as Crypto Mom, gave her view during a panel discussion this week.

Regulator to step in

It was Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary who back in December of last year kicked off the whole banning Bitcoin discussion when he debated Anthony Pompliano. O’Leary, known as Mr Wonderful to his fans, claimed that he wasn’t opposed to Bitcoin per se, but predicted that if it would become a more important asset, regulators would not hesitate to step in and possibly ban it.

That view was repeated in March by known hedge fund founder and renowned financial author Ray Dalio, who stated:

Every country treasures its monopoly on controlling the supply and demand. They don’t want other monies to be operating or competing because things can get out of control. So I think that it would be very likely that you will have it, under a certain set of circumstances, outlawed the way gold was outlawed.

Shut down internet

This week, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel went a step further, claiming that Bitcoin could now be seen as a Chinese financial weapon because of the control Beijing has over mining operations.

With all this scaremongering going on, cryptofans were eager to know how Crypto Mom Hester Pierce thought of all of it. Speaking at a panel discussion organized by Marketwatch, Ms Pierce gave her thoughts, stating:

I think we were past that point of banning Bitcoin in the US very early on because you’d have to shut down the internet.

I don’t see how you could ban it. You could certainly make the effort. It would be very hard to stop people from doing it [trading Bitcoin],” she said. “So I think it would be a foolish thing for the government to try to do that.

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