As wonks from around the world arrived in Sydney this week to talk crypto regulation at a Blockchain APAC conference, spirits were high. The local industry has long pined for regulatory certainty, and politicians from both major parties are on hand at Policy Week to promise legislation that would provide just that.
Despite this jubilance, the event is taking place against the backdrop of a significantly depressed cryptocurrency market.
The crypto sector enjoyed ecstatic highs in the weeks following Donald Trump's election. Now, amid Wall Street anxiety about a potential recession, it is experiencing a hangover.
“The tariff-first approach, the heavy-handed approach to military action in Europe, hasn’t caused a positive outlook on markets in general,” Ripple senior director of global financial institutions Ross Edwards said on the sidelines of Policy Week, “and that’s been amplified in the crypto markets.”
