Monero [XMR] being declared illegal in the United States is unlikely, says [...]

[Pegasus]

Riccardo Spagni aka FluffyPony, the Co-founder of Tari and a member of Monero’s core developer team, spoke about a scenario where the United States clamps down on Monero and declares it illegal, on an interview with Monero Talk.

Spagni stated that this scenario would be “very interesting,” and that this would probably not happen. Nevertheless, the core developer did acknowledge that it was entirely possible, stating that it was unlikely that the US would declare the privacy coin illegal. Spagni cited the example of Tor aka The Onion Router, an open-source software that enables anonymous communication.

He said,

“[…] I mean, you know, there are lots of these things like botnet command and control servers on Tor. There’s the proliferation of dark net markets, there’s child abuse […] on Tor. So, extensively, the US government could right now go like Tor bad and so we’re making it illegal […]”

According to him, the positive benefits of Tor “by far outweighed the relatively small minority” that abuses it, from the government’s perspective. He stated that this applies to “whistle-blowing,” and citizens or residents in oppressive regimes being able to use it, adding that the United States wants to set a “good example.”

“[…] they want all of the good things to be able to continue on tour and they wouldn’t want to be the country that bans to you know to the detriment of other countries […]”

This was the reason why Spagni thinks that the United States would be on the same page when it comes to Monero. He further stated that ZCash was at an immediate risk if the U.S took this action, as it is a U.S-based company. He went on to state,

“[…] so I do watch carefully to see what happens there and I continue to do so and it’s I think that that’s the canary in the coal mine. If the US starts taking serious action […]”

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