Landry and colleagues argue that cryptocurrency regulation should not begin with technical rules or tax enforcement but with ethics. Digital assets challenge governments, markets, and consumers. When laws trail innovation, ethical rights—safety, transparency, fairness—must guide the creation of a global legal framework.
Technology always outruns law. Cryptocurrency is simply the most extreme example. The absence of coordinated regulation does not create innovation—it creates winners with asymmetric advantage and large-scale victims. Leaders in finance, cyber, and digital markets should avoid the deceptive logic that “decentralized” means “no rules.” Ethereum, Solana, and stablecoins are not anarchist experiments; they are trillion-dollar infrastructures with real-world consequences.
A rights-first mindset changes how executives should lead. If your fintech pays employees or customers in digital tokens, your first responsibility isn’t yield—it’s protection. Measure your success by whether a novice user can understand risks, recover assets, and transact without exploitation. Companies like Coinbase and Kraken built trust through compliance and transparency, not secrecy. Conversely, FTX—fueled by opacity and unchecked authority—turned customer deposits into casino chips. The collapse was not technological failure—it was ethical negligence.
This article also speaks to global competitiveness. U.S. policymakers fear that strong regulation will “kill innovation.” In reality, ethical frameworks accelerate adoption. Japan’s early crypto exchange licensing encouraged consumer confidence and institutional participation. Web3 startups there scale faster because users trust the system.
Finally, managers must recognize that blockchain is not a magic immunity shield. Hacks, wallet theft, market manipulation, and rug-pulls are human harms—not protocol errors. Leaders who treat crypto like casino tokens will face both regulatory and reputational consequences. Those who anchor it to rights—security, fairness, transparency—will build enduring systems that benefit markets and society.
Based upon the Analysis Of: Corey, C. M., Landry, B. J. L., & Payne, D. (2023). Ethics before law: A legal genesis for cryptocurrency regulation. Southern Journal of Business & Ethics, 15, 46–62.