With his legion of Twitter followers who know him as “BlockProf,” or the Blockchain Professor, JW Verret has been a trusted advocate for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. A Harvard-educated attorney, who teaches corporate finance and accounting, his work and influence on crypto is felt from his classrooms at George Mason University to Crypto Freedom Lab where he serves as the primary advocate. But is advocating enough in this changing world of cryptocurrencies?
It’s no surprise that Verret, who was a member of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee, has found an interest in ZCash, a privacy coin that, in his opinion, is a tremendous innovation set to reform the day-to-day payments. With privacy becoming a major concern in this era of public information, the role of ZCash and other privacy coins like Monero needs to be examined closely. These privacy-centric cryptocurrencies make it possible to eliminate intermediaries, thereby solving financial problems that government regulations have constantly tried to fix, the essence of Verret’s appeal. However, critics argue it also opens avenues for potentially illicit transactions.
Moreover, can we relegate the future of cryptocurrency to serve merely as a tool to achieve transaction privacy? Isn’t crypto so much more than just that? Advocates claim that the blockchain technology provides the much-needed efficiency that surpasses traditional financial instruments. However, it is impossible to ignore the fact that it has also been stigmatized due to its use by criminals. A balance must be struck somewhere.
Verret’s role as a professional witness in U.S. v. Sterlingov, involving the developer of Bitcoin Fog, a crypto mixer, further emphasizes this point. While he holds a strong belief in the public’s right to privacy, he also acknowledges the role cryptocurrencies can play in facilitating illegal activities. His involvement in tracing these illegal transactions brings forth the question of false positives, potentially harming innocent bystanders. This presents a new challenge to the crypto world with a call for better regulation of tracing firms.
His support for privacy in the crypto world might be vehement, but his work in following the money shows a different side. Hence, we are left to wonder, can these two concepts really coexist peacefully in the world of cryptocurrencies? Is there a way for cryptocurrencies to offer privacy, efficiency and legal safety, all at once? Perhaps Verret’s ongoing work will provide an answer to this seeming paradox. While we wait to see how it unfolds, his standpoints have succeeded in sparking a much-needed conversation about privacy and legality in the world of crypto.
Source: Cointelegraph
