US law firm Foley & Lardner LLP has published the results of its 2018 Cryptocurrency Survey. Trends revealed the preference of Ethereum over Bitcoin and a desire for federal regulation among respondents.
On June 26, Foley announced[1] it had surveyed[2] industry insiders for insight on attitudes toward the use, risk, and regulation of cryptocurrencies and found that, despite recent market losses and regulatory uncertainty, 58 percent of respondents were open to investing in or developing cryptocurrency businesses.
To quote one executive, "the juice is worth the squeeze."
Eighty-four percent of respondents feel that ICOs should be regulated by the federal government, individual states, or both, while 68 percent want regulation for the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies.
Kathryn Trkla, a partner and member of Foley's Blockchain Task Force, attributed the invitation for federal regulation to a recognition that exchanges are not self-contained and that transfers to and from fiat currencies will "likely involve use of existing, regulated financial market infrastructure."
A "lack of legal certainty" emerged as a barrier throughout the survey. Seventy-two percent of respondents feel that "the cryptocurrency industry does not have a well-grounded understanding of existing federal and state regulation of financial markets or financial services."
"Uncertainty about regulatory standards and duties is an obstacle to salutary product development in this field," said another member of Foley's Blockchain Task Force, firm partner Patrick Daugherty.
When asked about individual coins, 43 percent of those surveyed thought that bitcoin will be more likely to gain greater acceptance as a medium of payment. But as an investment opportunity, Ethereum was favored over bitcoin by a margin of 38 to 35 percent.
"Bitcoin and Ethereum are the 'safest' crypto assets to build a business around because they are the only crypto assets that
