Why are governments also targeting crypto-to-crypto exchanges?

[Abiky]

Since crypto's latest upsurge in popularity across the mainstream world, governments have been attempting to implement fierce regulations in order to prevent money laundering and other criminal activities. They've been mostly targeting centralized exchanges which offer crypto-to-fiat trades, in this regard.

However, they've recently been cracking down on crypto-to-crypto exchanges as well crippling people's ability to freely exchange crypto without the need for ID verification, etc.

Since Fiat is largely backed and manipulated by the government, it's expected that they would take actions in order to prevent misuse of their national currency. But, crypto has no single jurisdiction neither it's backed by a government. Which makes me wonder, why governments are also targeting crypto-only exchanges? After all, crypto is not money according to most prominent governments of the world.

Nonetheless, what are your thoughts?

[funchiestz]

I think the main idea which the reason you write this article is Trump's words.

As we read in news, Trump and US congress don't want to cryptocurrencies starting from Libra. They do not want the USD to lose value with the uncontrolled system. That's the point. If cryptocurrencies will succeed, USD will lose value and they can't do anything.

Every country, including the US, is looking for a solution that it can control. And until they find it, they may not look warm to cryptocurrencies.

[yangongear]

Because the government is currently unable to manage crypto, the best way is to ban it. Crypto-fiat exchanges are under strict government control, as well as banks, because the government can manage the money flow from banks to the exchange and vice versa, but for crypto-to-crypto exchange, it is difficult to do that.

[igor.vanyutin.83]

I believe they are banning such exchanges, because they do not have any influence on that. I mean no dex exchange is paying taxes and without a KYC process, users are staying anonymous. Thats the core idea of governments, that everything should be centralised.

[Linkkoin]

The main reasoning of officials behind crypto to crypto exchanges is that theoretically you can use cyberransom/hacked cryptocurrency A, exchange it to another one (which had not been stolen) B.
Next send it elsewhere, on the next crypto to crypto exchange change B to C (privacy coin), and C anonymously to some other wallet (from which it could be sent to another exchange, switched to eg. BTC or sold in face to face transaction).

[Vishnu.Reang]

It's not really surprising. The United States income tax authorities recently made crypto-to-crypto transactions taxable. So in order to calculate the tax, the total value of the coins needs to be calculated as per the prevailing exchange rates and the taxes need to be paid for either short-term or long-term capital gains. And that is also one of the reasons why the Binance exchange opened a separate platform for the American users.

[ethereumhunter]

Because they don't want to see their currency has a competitor who can beat their currency. They only want to see their currency exist and still use by the people. They were afraid that they don't have a control for the cryptocurrency and it's beyond of their power. They can force the crypto exchanges for making regulations for their members. They need to know who is the members of the exchange, and they can trace one by one of their people and track their record too.

[hrunya102]

For example, the government did not recognize the cryptocurrency, but they see that they miss the chance to get taxes on profits, so they try to come up with different restrictions and regulation.

[bttmember]

Yeah i find this annoying too that various governments around the world are trying to curb the crypto while the situation should have been that they should be encouraging this revolutionary technology.

[Piskeante]

Governments want to control your money. Crypto is the best way to leave that control away. So governments and banks will do whatever they can to destroy crypto, because with crypto they cannot track your money, not control it, nor tax it, nor anything.

This is why crypto will fail.

[tsaroz]

When governments make it harder for people to buy and sell crypto for fiat, they'd start buying and selling goods for crypto.
China is a good example where things are getting out of hands for the government as they are trading for crypto and most rich people are willing to buy any amount to be safe from the party in case they need to run.

[Abiky]

I think the main idea which the reason you write this article is Trump's words.

As we read in news, Trump and US congress don't want to cryptocurrencies starting from Libra. They do not want the USD to lose value with the uncontrolled system. That's the point. If cryptocurrencies will succeed, USD will lose value and they can't do anything.

Every country, including the US, is looking for a solution that it can control. And until they find it, they may not look warm to cryptocurrencies.

Exactly. That's the point indeed. Governments don't want to lose control over their national currency (Fiat). They want people to continue using their monetary system, despite being outdated and inefficient. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Libra represent a threat to the very existent of central banks, and possibly governments as well. While crypto is not subject to a single jurisdiction, they're still the target of governments worldwide.

Which is why, they'll start cracking down on any exchange no matter if it has Fiat trading pairs or not. I guess that only decentralized exchanges and atomic swaps are safe in this regard, since they operate within the Blockchain. This makes them rather unstoppable, as governments would need to take down the underlying Blockchain in its entirety (which makes it harder to achieve as the Blockchain grows in node distribution, and in some cases, hashrate).

Nonetheless, crypto-to-crypto exchanges which are centralized (like Shapeshift) might see their existence threatened by the most powerful countries in the world (like the US and countries in the EU). As long as people continue to use these services in mass, they'll be continuously oppressed by the government. In the end, only decentralized exchanges and atomic swaps will survive in the long term as centralized exchanges shut down one by one because of their inability to comply with fierce regulations worldwide. Just my thoughts

[Cnut237]

Since Fiat is largely backed and manipulated by the government, it's expected that they would take actions in order to prevent misuse of their national currency. But, crypto has no single jurisdiction neither it's backed by a government. Which makes me wonder, why governments are also targeting crypto-only exchanges? After all, crypto is not money according to most prominent governments of the world.

I think they're scared. They are starting to realise that crypto is a threat, and are torn between jumping on board to try to share some of the money, or banning it in an attempt to protect fiat. Most governments are cautious,  slow-moving and resistant to change... so they are (most of the time) attacking crypto.

[Abiky]

I think they're scared. They are starting to realise that crypto is a threat, and are torn between jumping on board to try to share some of the money, or banning it in an attempt to protect fiat. Most governments are cautious,  slow-moving and resistant to change... so they are (most of the time) attacking crypto.

Exactly. Governments have seen how prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have become, making them believe that this new kind of money will overcome the traditional monetary system. In part, cryptocurrencies have spread out a revolution but they won't be able to replace Fiat in any way. Sometime in the future, governments will use Blockchain tech for their own benefit in order to devise a digital currency of their own.

While physical cash is still being used worldwide, governments will see crypto as a threat more than anything else. Their main intent is to stop money laundering and other illegal activities, but that's not really the case. They just want control over people's money. And crypto greatly prevents third parties from taking any actions against people using it.

Exchanges that provide crypto-to-fiat trading pairs are more prone to be targeted by governments than those which are crypto only. This is because, it's easier to implement KYC/AML regulations within traditional Fiat currencies like the USD and EUR. For crypto, it's another story since identities are not linked within the Blockchain. Most crypto-to-crypto exchanges don't require ID verifications, especially those which are decentralized (like Bitshares/OpenLedger and EtherDelta). That's probably one of the main reasons why governments have been against crypto-to-crypto exchanges.

Still though, the more decentralized alternatives emerge, the harder it will be for governments to be able to implement their own regulations. Which is why, crypto-to-crypto exchanges may become the way of the future, as regulations become tighter over time for regular exchanges with Fiat trading pairs. Only then, people would trade Fiat in a P2P fashion just to get access into the world of crypto. Just my thoughts