In a recent post, Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has posted a shocking study which reveals the level of economic freedom in the United States. Notably, America, the land of the free, is not so free when it comes to global economic freedom rankings.
On Monday, Coinbase CEO posted data from a new report which showed the decline of economic freedom in the U.S. Notably, the fall in rankings of the US has not been missed by crypto industry executives and analysts.
According to the Reason magazine report, the US has fallen to 25th in the world for economic freedom. Additionally, data from the Heritage Foundation, cited that it was once ranked fourth in the world. To this, Armstrong said:
Economic freedom remains an important measure of every country’s potential for growth and prosperity.
The foundation’s report ranks a country’s economic freedom based on factors such as the rule of law, regulatory efficiency, open markets, and fiscal health. As per the report, the big reason the U.S. fell in the rankings is that Congress spends so much more money than government can squeeze out of citizens in taxes.
If you care about living a prosperous life, you should care about what government economic policies are. More dollars chasing fewer goods leads to inflation, and inflation leaves us less financial freedom.
Derrick Morgan, Vice President of the Heritage Foundation
The U.S. inflation rate is still high at 4% but has fallen from just over 9% at the same time last year. Furthermore, the report added the American policymakers “add thousands of regulations, most of which restrict individual freedom.” However, ranking 25th isn’t the worst as the most repressed countries in the world included Sudan, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea.
Currently, the financial regulators are battling to crackdown on the crypto industry in America. Industry observers have suggested that the move is to enable their Wall Street backers to continue to control the space. Furthermore, restricting retail traders from accessing this new asset class certainly doesn’t improve America’s economic freedom status.
Notably, Singapore tops the list in terms of economic freedom, while Taiwan, Ireland, and Switzerland get honorable mentions. Commenting on the rise of Singapore to economic superiority, Armstrong said:
They’ve done an incredible job on most dimensions measured. One area of concern is that they’ve taken a step back on allowing retail crypto trading which I think is short-sighted and anti-freedom.
Sources reveal that the Singapore has been a destination of choice for several high-profile American crypto and fintech firms recently given the regulator’s approach to crypto entities lately. In past weeks, major crypto firms namely Ripple, Circle and Coinbase has established or are planning to establish a base in the region.
As reported by Todayq News, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been on an enforcement spree in recent times. The regulator has targeted major crypto exchanges in the past weeks including Binance and Coinbase. With the lawsuits, the American investors have been caught off guard while the Asian investors have shown more resilience.
Armstrong used this report as a medium to highlight the growing concerns of crypto industry losing its stature in the US. Various personalities have voiced their concerns that the growing hostilities will push innovation out of America.