Editor's note:Twenty years ago, the U.S. government developed an initiative report called the "Global E-commerce Framework" to take the "free ride" of the Internet. For some time thereafter, the Internet sector in the United States experienced explosive growth. The release of the report has become one of the important factors for the United States to become a "vanguard" in the Internet industry. Today, the blockchain world is booming. But this time the US appears to have lost its global leadership.
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In 1997, the Internet was a new word. Ira MagazinerThis year, the then US President Clinton and those who had participated in the US health care reformTo reform the old traditions and reform the new, formulate a policy called(Global Framework for Electronic Commerce) initiative report. The central thesis of the report is the "do no harm" policy, and the initiative covers a series of specific recommendations, namely, no taxation, no supervision, no restrictions on the early development of the Internet, and promotion of the layout of global e-commerce.
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In the world of the Internet, the United States dominates
The U.S. government is trying to be "the first to eat crabs", and while taking the lead in implementing specific policies, it also calls on countries around the world to participate. It has realized that e-commerce does not have geographical boundaries and needs to rely on the cooperation of countries around the world.
The biggest achievement of the Clinton administration was to promote the prosperity of the American economy, which was largely due to the growing sophistication of the Internet. "The Internet should be an area that the government is fully promoting. Don't block the way, don't hurt." Clinton had a glimpse of the future development potential of the Internet. Indeed, the Internet revolution has created a new industry with huge output value, driving the economy.
More than 20 years after the publication of the "Global E-Commerce Framework" report, blockchain technology has become a new technology hotspot. Although the content of the report is "how to promote the development of global e-commerce", as an interpretation of the current blockchain field, it is still a very readable report.
Without this policy, the U.S. government may impose new tax policies on Internet-based e-commerce, adopt new regulations to supervise and restrict it, and even restrict the types of information disseminated and impose license requirements on service providers. Fortunately, they didn't.
Undoubtedly, the U.S. government has chosen a more correct position and tasted the "sweetness" brought by the Internet. For a period of time thereafter, the Internet sector in the United States experienced explosive growth around Internet infrastructure, technology updates, and application implementation. It can be said that the publication of this report is one of the important factors for the United States to become the "vanguard" of the Internet industry. China has spent at least another decade catching up, creating Internet companies with "Chinese characteristics" based on the successful cases of the United States.
To understand this better, I extract some key passages from the report.
To realize the full potential of the Internet, governments must adopt a non-regulatory, market-oriented approach to e-commerce based on Internet technology, promote a transparent and predictable legal environment, and thereby promote global trade and business transactions. Official decision makers, such as governments, should respect the uniqueness of the medium and recognize that broad competition and greater consumer choice are defining features of today's new digital markets.
Internet-related applications continue to land, and many Internet companies and their users are beginning to worry about whether regulators will put pressure on the Internet and e-commerce. The "pressure" of these regulatory dissonances includes imposing taxes, licensing requirements for service providers, unreasonable formulation of corporate liability, and constraints on transmission types and standard setting.
In fact, many countries adopt an attitude of discouraging or even suppressing this field. Nipping these bad actors in their infancy and pre-empting them is a powerful motivator for the strategy outlined in this article.
The principles embodied in the report are also very interesting.
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The private sector takes the lead
Therefore, agencies such as the government should encourage industry self-regulation when appropriate and support the private sector in establishing mechanisms to facilitate the operation of the Internet.
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Govt avoids imposing undue constraints on e-commerce
Governments, supposedly as enablers of new technologies, should avoid imposing unnecessary regulations, bureaucratic procedures, or taxes on Internet-related business activities.
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Where governments are involved, the aim should be to support and create a positive legal environment for business. This environment should be predictable, measured, and consistent.
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All parties should be aware of the characteristics of the Internet
Much of the Internet's success is due to its traditional strengths of decentralization and bottom-up governance. These novel features pose certain challenges to the existing regulatory models and technologies, and the government and other institutions should formulate corresponding policies in a timely manner.
Regulatory policy should be implemented as a necessary means to achieve broader consensus. Review and revision of e-commerce laws and regulations, whether to facilitate or hinder, should reflect the requirements of the new electronic age.
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The Internet is building a global financial market, and the legal framework to promote Internet transactions should be agreed in states, countries, and even the world. This produces predictable results regardless of the jurisdictional circumstances of a particular buyer or seller.
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In the field of blockchain, the "vanguard" seems to have fallen behind
The perspective turns to blockchain.
Ten years of nodes, ups and downs, leaving and entering, and the layout retreating... The world of blockchain is still booming. Where are we (USA)?
The results seem to be unsatisfactory, and the US government and regulators seem to be lagging behind this time.
They may not realize that there are similarities between blockchain technology and the Internet and e-commerce in the 1990s. Blockchain technology is not yet "full-fledged", and it chooses to wait, refusing to venture into unknown territory.
Two years ago, there seemed to be a silver lining.In April 2016, Giancarlo, then chairman of the US Commodity Futures (CFTC), delivered at the Database Conference (DTCC)inspirational speech
. It calls on the relevant US regulators to learn from the experience and lessons of the Internet and adopt a position similar to the 1997 "Global Electronic Commerce Framework" policy. In addition, he even suggested that the various regulators agree on "uniform principles".
Here are some key parts of his speech.Regulators are at a "crossroads".
By following the regulatory path, the industry may be under heavy regulatory pressure; or all parties shall develop a unified principled consensus to encourage investment and innovation in distributed ledger technology (DLT). For me, I prefer the latter.
Again, "do no harm" is the right way to approach DLT. The private sector needs to be the “leader” again, and regulators should try to avoid hindering investment and innovation in the blockchain space, while creating a predictable, consistent, and straightforward legal environment. In addition, the uncertainty of long-term monitoring or an uncoordinated regulatory approach should be avoided.
But contrary to expectations, judging from the actual situation after that speech, Giancarlo's appeal seems to have fallen on deaf ears and has not received enough attention.
Unsurprisingly, the biggest hurdle to the development of blockchain technology comes from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The latter defines itself as the “Grinch” of blockchain regulation, taking away the role of regulators , and throw out "the baby with the bathwater"
There is a risk of “harming” strategies in blockchain regulation, and the chief culprit of this risk comes from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
In 1997, the United States took the "free ride" of the Internet and took the lead in the world in the thought and practice of e-commerce supervision. Today, blockchain is getting a different treatment as an emerging technology; other countries are taking the lead in adopting progressive policy and regulatory implementation.
For example,For example,Japan Financial Services Authority (FSA)190 applications for virtual currency trading licenses have been received and are currently under review. Switzerland issued a clearToken Classification Framework
, after mastering the code of how to manage the process, it is still a friendly area to manage ICOs based on the foundation governance model. The blockchain deployments in Singapore, Gibraltar, Malta, and the Cayman Islands are "intensive". Although the scale is small, some progress has been made. This is also an encouragement to entrepreneurs and the blockchain systems they produce.
Sadly, in the United States, which has the best environment for tech startups, blockchain technology is being stymied by relatively unfriendly regulatory actions. It is not difficult for other jurisdictions to replicate the dynamism and depth of experience of the US start-up ecosystem, despite their legal advantages.SEC needs to learn from history and re-examineThe Global Framework for E-Commerceinfluence. Incoming Chairman Clayton also acknowledged that his March 2017Nomination Confirmation Hearing, did not receive any questions about the blockchain. Apparently, the SEC's attitude towards this topic is "immature", and it has not worked hard to study this topic. Compared to other organizations, the hastily formed judgment shows that the SEC does not have a deep understanding and barely passes the mark. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently witnessed25 Questions the RFI Asks for Ethereum
, Gain a deeper understanding in the blockchain field.
