Bitcoin an 'Unstoppable Force,' US Congressman Tells Crypto Hearing

Bitcoin's plight in Congress has seen attention focus mainly on naysayers, but this week's hearing also saw United States politicians accept it was always beyond their control.

'Governments cannot stop this innovation'.

During testimony on July 17, U.S. Congressman Patrick McHenry, who represents North Carolina's 10th District, told lawmakers directly that attempts to stop Bitcoin were futile.

"The world that Satoshi Nakamoto, author of the Bitcoin whitepaper envisioned, and others are building, is an unstoppable force," he said.

Others broadly failed to draw a distinction between Bitcoin and permissioned digital currencies, specifically Facebook's Libra project, which formed the initial basis for the hearings.

For McHenry legislation or not, Bitcoin will prevail.

"We should not attempt to deter this innovation; governments cannot stop this innovation, and those that have tried have already failed," he continued.

As Cointelegraph reported, the Congressional hearings came as other states are currently coming to grips with the first incarnation of their regulation of Bitcoin and other decentralized cryptocurrencies.

Notably, India this week confirmed it was working on official guidelines after a scandal involving what some accepted as a draft law banning cryptocurrency outright appeared earlier.

The fallout of the document, which mandated prison sentences for Bitcoin users, resulted in billionaire investor Tim Draper calling the Indian government "Pathetic and corrupt."