Each day, regulators tighten their stance against crypto with the aim of protecting the industry against money laundering and other illicit activities. This "legalizes" crypto to a point where it's "safe" enough for investors and average individuals to buy/sell crypto assets. But the more regulated crypto gets, the less freedom a person will have. Regulators are shutting down centralized mixers, and are now holding privacy protocol developers accountable for their actions.
I wonder how far will regulators go? Will we reach a point where it will be impossible to launch a new crypto without the approval of regulators (in this case, the government)? Those caught making their own crypto or token and launching it to the public without the consent of the government, could either face fines or imprisonment.
What are your thoughts?

Imho there is just not one ideology when it comes to regulations... There are several different political standpoints and any side could win, even the dumb uniformed side.
I don't get this attack against protocols, like open sourced code could be illegal. It's like saying that linux and python should be illegal because hackers (or crackers) are using them.
Mostly all parties agree that we need to do something about money laundering, and that we need some sort of auditability to enforce accountability.
Let's remember that when we are talking about launching cryptos, then seeking people to fund crypto projects, is very different from having a fair launch on some PoW coin.