Whereas attending the MIT Bitcoin Expo this previous weekend, I used to be afforded the chance to sit down down with Timothy Massad, Analysis Fellow on the Kennedy College of Authorities at Harvard College and former Chairman of the U.S. Commodities and Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC).
Massad served as the top of the CFTC from 2014 to 2017, and it was underneath his management that bitcoin was labeled as a commodity.
In recent times, Massad has shared his ideas on what regulation round bitcoin and digital property ought to appear to be. He’s appeared on Bloomberg to debate the matter, and he lately testified on the first Senate Banking Subcommittee listening to on Digital Belongings.
Massad considers the necessity to stability consumer privateness when utilizing public blockchains with the necessity for the U.S. authorities to watch the networks for illicit actions as one the largest challenges that regulators at the moment face — and he doesn’t declare to have the reply as to how that is finest achieved.
He defined that it’s necessary that folks can’t see the stability of our funds or everything of our transaction historical past after we do one thing as trivial as paying for a cup of espresso with a digital asset.
In our dialog, he said that the innovator who develops the expertise that finds this stability could have discovered the “holy grail.”
You possibly can watch the interview right here:


