International Crypto Standards: Will They Come From the Community or Governments?

The past year has seen an intensifying push toward producing international standards for the cryptocurrency industry.

Groups such as Global Digital Finance have risen with the aim of fostering universal standards on how crypto platforms are run, just as groups like the Blockchain Association and CryptoUK are now focused mostly on standards at a national level.

While holding the promise that crypto will avoid stringent government regulation by learning how to regulate itself, there's also a concern that global standards might hamper innovation, and that crypto - almost by nature - is not meant to be standardized.

While the world's governments and governmental bodies slowly wake up to the idea of regulating cryptocurrencies at a global level, the crypto industry is increasingly producing new trade institutions that are beating them to punch when it comes to developing standards.

In March, CryptoUK was established, with the aim of producing self-regulatory standards for the United Kingdom's cryptocurrency industry.

Given that most other self-regulatory trade bodies - such as the Blockchain Association, the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association and the Blockchain Foundation of India - are working primarily at the national level, global collaboration on regulatory approaches will be vital if the crypto industry is to enjoy uniform international standards.

Like Global Digital Finance, its aim is to devise global industry standards on how crypto-exchanges are run and cryptocurrencies are traded.

There is every reason to believe that the crypto industry will, sooner or later, develop international standards and adopt them at large scale.

The question remains: Will such standards simply give the public greater confidence in crypto, or will they also have the unfortunate side effect of constraining innovation?

Once international standards are in place and recognized, it becomes much likelier that the companies that do observe them will have a much better chance of working with and influencing regulators - something which will ultimately put them at a competitive advantage.