The average politician probably has little or no understanding of cryptocurrencies. Some might understand the basic idea of a blockchain and its decentralized nature but the percentage of lawmakers who know the difference between a private key and a public key, the process of setting up cold storage wallets, or how multi-sig should be implemented securely is almost certainly very, very small.
So if cryptocurrency does become regulated and businesses like exchanges are forced to implement security practices such as having most of their funds in cold storage, then who will decide what regulations should be implemented and how? Surely, it won't be the politician.
Do you think they will attempt to have one of the Core devs on board or invite someone important in the cryptocurrency community like Vitalik, coblee, or Roger Ver (eek!) to write the regulations and then just take their word for it? What will they do if they decide not to participate? Heck, many (if not most) of those who are well-known and respected in the field are distrustful of governments and will probably refuse to participate since it could be seen as betraying the libertarian and anti-authoritarian ethos of the community.
Your thoughts?