Who’s afraid of cryptocurrencies? Everyone in Washington | Commentary

Finally, we seem to have a bipartisan consensus in Washington. Both parties are terrified of new private money and they want to regulate it out of existence. The near universal fear and loathing by government officials of these so-called cryptocurrencies is all the more reason they should exist.

A cryptocurrency is a privately sponsored and operated form of money that is not supplied by government. Bitcoin has already been traded for years, but the new leading horse is the multibillion-dollar Libra that Facebook is creating

The Wall Street Journal’s recent headline expressed worries of government officials: “Facebook Faces Broad Resistance to Crypto Plans.”

Last week’s congressional hearing on crypto-currencies revealed broad agreement that U.S. regulators and policymakers must force cryptocurrency companies to comply with a catalog of regulations governing financial risks, money laundering and terrorism.

Meanwhile the European Union officials…