Free Markets and the Future of Blockchain

J. Christopher Giancarlo is Chairman at U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency of the US government that regulates futures and options markets.

The proposition is that broad and sustained prosperity generally occurs wherever in the world there are open and competitive markets, free of political interference, combined with free enterprise, personal choice, voluntary exchange and legal protection of person and property.

Free markets and innovation are natural partners in this respect.

Under free market capitalism, well-regulated and well-ordered trading activity is considered a forum of human self-expression and economic advancement.

For an emerging generation fascinated by crowdsourcing, free capital markets are the ultimate in crowd-sourced decision making.

Free market capitalism is not a source of misery and oppression; free market capitalism is the antidote.

We must disabuse ourselves, our peers, and future generations of the notion that there is anything attractive or aspirational about political control of markets and human enterprise.

Free markets should be the natural choice of today's innovators, who today are striving to build bright and better futures.

I personally hope that we can renew faith in free markets for ourselves and our children.

With the proper balance of sound policy, regulatory oversight, private sector innovation and a little bit of courage, new technologies and global trading methodologies will lead our markets to evolve in responsible ways, and continue to grow the economy and create a future of untethered aspiration, a future where creativity and economic expression is a social good in its own right, a source of human growth and advancement.