On Nov. 16, a16z shared the release of its annual State of Crypto Report, which considers the impact of blockchains for policymakers considering the future of emerging technology in the United States.

In the report, the venture capital firm emphasizes that good regulation should protect consumers and provide compliance pathways, while showcasing continuous growth for the digital asset class.

Regulation remains front and center

Highlighting the value of these cryptocurrencies, the report calls out Blockchain analytics firms estimate that it is less than 2% of total crypto activity that is being tied to illicit transactions, and in 2022, it only accounted for between 0.10-0.24% of all crypto activity.

The report further shares that regulation has been of ongoing concern to the crypto community, with notable developments, including crypto legislation being passed out of the House committees for the first time in history and courts making landmark rulings, such as in the case of Ripple.

The venture capitalist firm points out that only good regulation that can crack down on bad actors in the industry and protect consumers.

Guiding principles

To help guide the regulatory landscape, a16z releases its own guiding principles, which includes businesses being the focus of regulation, not broad autonomous software, legal businesses and their customers getting access to lawful protections from banking relationships to data privacy and avoiding the banning of new business models or technologies which drives jobs and development elsewhere.