Quite a few officers — from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to European Central Financial institution President Christine Lagarde — have sounded the alarm about using bitcoin for cash laundering, terrorist financing and different unlawful actions.

“I believe there could possibly be some crackdown,” Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, instructed CNBC in an interview. Cryptocurrencies have surged in worth these days, with bitcoin hitting a document excessive worth of greater than $61,000 final month. The world’s Most worthy digital coin was final buying and selling at round $60,105.

Kraken is the world’s fourth-largest digital forex trade by way of buying and selling quantity. The agency is contemplating going public by way of a direct itemizing — just like Coinbase — subsequent 12 months after reaching document buying and selling volumes within the first quarter, CNBC reported final week.

Coinbase is about to go public on Wednesday, and could possibly be valued at as a lot as $100 billion — greater than main trade operators like Intercontinental Trade, proprietor of the New York Inventory Trade. Crypto buyers are hailing the corporate’s inventory market debut as a significant milestone for the business after years of skepticism from Wall Road and regulators.

Nonetheless, Kraken’s chief thinks regulatory uncertainty round crypto is not going away any time quickly. A current anti-money laundering rule proposed by the U.S. authorities would require individuals who maintain their crypto in a personal digital pockets to bear identification checks in the event that they make transactions of $3,000 or extra.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have usually been related to illicit actions as a consequence of the truth that folks transacting with it are pseudonymous — you’ll be able to see the place funds are being despatched however not who despatched or acquired them.

There are indicators that using crypto for nefarious functions could also be falling. Illicit exercise accounted for simply 0.34% of all crypto transaction quantity final 12 months, in line with blockchain evaluation agency Chainalysis. That was down from roughly 2% a 12 months earlier.

“I hope that the U.S. and worldwide regulators do not take an excessive amount of of a slender view on this,” Powell mentioned. “Another international locations, China particularly, are taking crypto very critically and taking a really long-term view.”

Kraken’s CEO mentioned he feels the U.S. is extra “short-sighted” than different nations and “inclined” to the pressures of incumbent legacy companies — in different phrases, the banks — that “stand to lose from crypto turning into a giant deal.”

“I additionally suppose it may be too late,” Powell added. “Perhaps the genie’s out of the bottle and simply attempting to ban it at this level would make it extra engaging. It might actually ship a message that the federal government sees this as a superior various to their very own forex.”

The U.S. is not the one nation contemplating strict new guidelines on crypto. In India, for instance, the federal government is contemplating a legislation that might ban cryptocurrencies and penalize anybody holding or buying and selling them.