The US government is not interested in regulating cryptocurrencies adequately right now, as the recent remarks by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler make clear. According to him, the framework for regulating digital assets already exists, and it is called securities regulation.

Apparently, the serious age of these laws does not embarrass Gensler. In addition, he is clearly comfortable with his current position, which allows him to request additional billions to fund the work of his own agency.

Why TikTok is being banned

The prospect of a TikTok ban is described in a new bill, under the acronym RESTRICT, recently introduced in the US Senate. According to Coin Center analysts, it is similar to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allowed the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to prohibit citizens from engaging in transactions with sanctioned entities.

That is, such a law could, without any restriction, prohibit anything in any way related to “foreign entities”. Here’s how Austin Federer, head of strategy at the Solana Foundation, comments.

The rhetoric about banning TikTok should worry all cryptocurrency owners in the US. It’s not about TikTok itself, but about what it could mean for the prospects of distributing software that some politicians don’t like and which is protected by the First Amendment.


That is, Austin is hinting that the passage of this bill would set the stage for further bans on software whose role could be interpreted negatively. And this could indeed affect cryptocurrencies and the proliferation of various software like hot wallets, nodes and other important parts of the digital asset ecosystem. For example, analysts confirm the use of cryptocurrencies by various fraudsters and hackers - including those from North Korea.

Perhaps this will be enough to cause problems for normal cryptocurrencies and blockchain platforms? Still, the experience of the Tornado Cash mixer has shown that anything is basically possible here.


According to Cointelegraph’s sources, TikTok is not only about funny videos to music, but also about opportunities to promote cryptocurrencies. For example, in 2021, TikTok was actively used to pump Dogecoin during a certain digital asset buying shuttle.

Note that there is plenty of financial content of questionable quality on this platform. For example, in 2021, in a wave of rising popularity of "dog" tokens, TikTok users predicted the rise of Shiba Inu to the notional mark of 1 cent or 1 dollar. Naturally, the prospects of such a thing are practically zero, at least due to the fact that in such a case, the market capitalisation of SHIB would be larger than the entire coin market. However, authors of hype videos usually don't have such notions.

TikTok has since become a promising platform for crypto projects looking to build their communities. A flood of crypto-related content has descended on the platform, from exchanges like Binance and Coinbase to well-known industry figures sharing their thoughts on technical analysis and other things. At the time of writing, videos under the hashtags “crypto” and “cryptocurrency” on the platform have collectively garnered 34.7 billion views.

Roland Girdonan, who has worked as a community manager for various crypto startups, sees TikTok as an important community-building factor in the industry. Here’s a relevant rejoinder from the expert.

TikTok is one of the most powerful marketing tools that crypto startups use to attract a younger, social media-savvy audience. Startups use TikTok to create engaging content, contests and giveaways that quickly reach a global audience.

According to Girdonan, banning TikTok in the US could affect companies’ efforts to attract users, especially when it comes to a younger audience. As a reminder, it is this category of investors who are often interested in digital assets.

Mac Ocampo, the head of a Web3 platform called Follow, also commented on the situation. According to him, even a simple ban on this platform will create problems for the marketing departments of various cryptocurrency companies. However, this will definitely not be the end for this field, as banning TicToc will open up opportunities for other popular platforms. Here’s his quote.

If TikTok does get blocked in the US, then it will be an opportunity for Meta to make Instagram a direct competitor for TikTok. Such a situation would also allow Meta to reclaim market share in the US and continue its efforts on meta-universe and NFT initiatives, which were cancelled the day before.


We think that the prospect of the new bill being passed is really unhappy, as it will set the stage for more problems for the cryptocurrency industry. Apparently, blockchain developers really should prepare for a change of jurisdiction. There is less and less hope for a normalisation of the situation in the region.