Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are traded on exchanges. Bitfinex, one of the world's largest will be suspending service to US citizens within the next 90 days. Why?
Here are two bullet points and the main take away from their announcement.
A surprisingly small percentage of our revenues come from verified U.S. individual accounts while a dramatically outsized portion of our resources goes into servicing the needs of U.S. individuals, including support, legal and regulatory.
We anticipate the regulatory landscape to become even more challenging in the future.
I'm a newbie and there's a lot I don't understand about cryptocurrencies themselves, but the over-regulation of markets to the point of killing them is an old familiar story.
As a libertarian, I believe decentralized money is a necessary piece of the puzzle when it comes to the 7.5 billion people on this planet living in peace.
The internet is a game changer, the future is bright and Americans are an innovative people.
...so I know the end of this story.
I am however excited to watch how the middle plays out and thankful I started paying attention when I did.